BWW Interviews: SHOCK TREATMENT's Mateo Oxley

It's relatively rare for a reviewer to return to a small fringe show multiple times in its six-week run.

But that's what I've done with Shock Treatment, which closes this weekend at the King's Head.

It helps that I'm a bit of a Rocky Horror obsessive - Shock Treatment is the cult show's 'equal' (its creators were wary of deeming it a 'sequel') but the 1981 film version, starring Jessica Harper, Cliff de Young, Barry Humphries, Ruby Wax and a young Rik Mayall as well as Sinitta, has never garnered the same kind of popularity.

That film has a terrific score but a script that's rather unwieldy in places - and Tom Crowley's stage adaptation fixes those problems. When I reviewed it on press night I enthused about the simplified, slimmed-down storyline, injecting more of the Rocky Horror spirit of dark innuendo; but I was most impressed by the performances from the fantastic cast.

Mateo Oxley, in a showy gift of a role as the distressingly fame-hungry local TV presenter Ralph Hapschatt, is loving his time in the company.

"I'd seen the film before - it's the kind of thing you see at three in the morning, and I did like it," he says. "When I got the script, I was curious to see how it'd be reimagined. Originally I only had the first Denton scene, I thought, 'Yep, Ralph's in the film, he's quite a fun little character.' Then I got the whole script - and it just kept going! That was a really nice surprise - it's such a luxury to be able to originate something.

"And you don't see all of that on stage. You get glimpses of who Ralph really is, but mostly it's that sheen. He's willing to literally die to be famous - quality entertainment, that's his thing."

Without giving too much away, there's a moment in the production when Ralph's mask - and his luridly whiter-than-white smile - begins to slip away as fast as he's been able to snap it back on for the cameras during the rest of the show; and to me it seems fairly clear that Ralph's a pretty tragic character.

"Poor Ralph," agrees Oxley. "It's been a bit split, actually. Ralph has a relentless lust for power, and he's just shameless. He'll sell his own grandmother, get rid of his own ex-wife, do anything to be famous. That stems from somewhere. As big and bold and fun and comical as this musical is, to get to the root of that is interesting. People actually do that. You just have to watch an episode of 'The Kardashians'. Where does that come from? It's sad.

"It's a lot of pressure - there's an amazing fandom of people who have their own ideas about what it should be, but Shock Treatment's a little bit untouched. The Rocky Horror fans have been amazing. Wow. They want to meet us and chat to us about it - it feels very inclusive. Some people have waited 35 years for this to come to fruition! It's this liberating quality that Rocky Horror has. It's such good fun. It's a bold move to stage a world premiere of something that was really not very well received, but I think that was because it was ahead of its time. It's much more relevant now. The show examines the psyche from all angles. People are multifaced by their very nature. There's something enticing and mysterious about exploring that darker side of a person - and sexy, as well."

Speaking of which, on first viewing, Mark Little played the megalomaniac mogul Farley Flavors (an Aussie? Trying to influence a viewership through the media? Surely not); Pete Gallagher has replaced him for the second half of the run and the new take is an absolute revelation - he's effectively approaching the role as if Farley Flavors is indeed an alternate universe Frank N Furter, with all the charisma, sadism and sexual manipulation that implies.

"Pete's brilliant, an absolute pro," enthuses Oxley, and is generous with the praise for the rest of the cast as well (particularly Rosanna Hyland, playing Betty: "now one of my best friends").

Oxley, who studied voice at university before completing his training at ArtsEd, is in his first professional musical after a run in Punchdrunk's The Drowned Man. He's entertainingly ingenuous when he talks about his very earliest journeys into creativity, though, beginning with his imaginary friends (including Felipe the horse).

"Usually in interviews people talk about when they first wanted to be an actor - and I don't really remember that moment," he says. "I'm the youngest of five - the runt of the litter - so I just had to get creative. I had to occupy myself.

"I couldn't find anything I could stick at [in terms of performance] for a very long time. I tried the drums, it was too loud; I tried the guitar, it hurt my fingers; I tried the triangle, it was too basic! I really struggled to find something, and I was quite painfully shy. Then singing - I found that a liberating experience, and sang in a recital at my school.

"I trained to be a recording artist - I didn't think of going into musical theatre. I went to Anglia Ruskin, and got an audition for Rent, got the part, and got the bug - I was in 21 plays while I was in Cambridge. I applied to ArtsEd to do an MA, but knew I needed a scholarship to fund it, because it's so horrifically expensive wherever you go in London. Thankfully I got it. Then I did my showcase in September on a Tuesday, auditioned [for Punchdrunk] on the Saturday, and started work on the Monday."

From immersive theatre with Punchdrunk to cult musicals in Islington, and a wishlist of roles that include Moritz in Spring Awakening (which he played at university) and Cinderella's Prince in Into The Woods, Oxley's quick to note that sometimes people still perceive musical theatre as less 'serious' than other types of performance.

"There's still a stigma attached to musicals, I think. Friends and family have been in to see Shock Treatment and they like that there's a lot of dialogue, it's not, 'We're going to talk until a song starts,' because that can be quite a predictable formula in musical theatre. My old singing teacher would always say that obviously you're still telling a story when you're singing - there has to be a reason for you to start singing, not 'I heard the piano so I'll whack out a number.'

"People are very quick to put you in a box. They want you to be a musical theatre artist or a 'straight' actor, and I think that's really limiting. I want to be one of those people who can do both."

So while fingers are crossed for news of a continued life for this production, Oxley is going to make the most of the last few days at the King's Head: "I always knew it would be a lot of fun. I just feel really lucky."

Shock Treatment closes at the King's Head this Saturday 6th June.

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