I went to see Rocky Horror Picture Show at the Alexandra and clutched my pearls

When a group of ladies in sexy outfits shouted out their first interruption toward the Alexandra Theatre stage, my friend Emily turned to see what the crowd commotion was all about.

It was her first time seeing the Rocky Horror Picture Show and, a regular theatregoer otherwise, she hadn't expected the audience to break one of the cardinal rules of theatre by interrupting the script.

The narrator - played wonderfully by the whip-smart Jackie Clune - began quipping back retorts to their X-rated jokes and Emily turned to face me.

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"What is going on?!" she mouthed, and everything clicked into place. I grinned.

The Richard O'Brien musical is back in Birmingham for the millionth time, straight from the planet of Transexual in the galaxy of Transylvania, and die-hard fans filled the Alexandra to drink up every drop, just like we always will.

This wasn't my first trip to the castle so I knew that crowd participation was a big part of why Rocky is such a cult hit.

I was learning, as the jokes flew and I watched Emily beaming from the corner of my eye, that part of the magic of it all was taking someone who had never seen it before to experience the tale of Brad (Connor Carson), Janet (Lauren Chia), Frank N Furter (Adam Strong) and his servants.

In fact, as we watched multi-generational families around us pelvic-thrusting their way to beautiful freedom on a cold Monday night in Birmingham, I knew that it was as much about that feeling as it was the story.

Introducing Em to this wacky world, and seeing her embrace the madness, was such a brilliant feeling.

The musical hits arrive early in coming-of-age story of extraterrestrial debauchery.

We got up and did the Time Warp together, we screamed our heads off when we got our first look at Frank's corset as he undulated around in heels to Sweet Transvestite and we swooned and almost fell out of our seats when we first clapped eyes on Rocky's muscles as he backflipped across the boards.

The jokes from the narrator - and those cheeky audience members brave enough to shout them - were clutch-your-pearls blue and the scenes where Frank sneaks into bed with [names redacted to avoid spoilers!] were almost too much for me, an otherwise free-spirited and open-minded grown woman.

I'm not sure I've ever seen a sex scene on a Birmingham stage before and I looked up at the resplendent, glittering crystal chandelier of the beautiful Alex theatre and thought "sorry about this, old sport". Maybe it's me that needs liberating at a spooky castle!

Every performance was solid, camp and well-timed, with bags of physical comedy. I loved every second of it - I ALWAYS do.

Rocky Horror Picture Show, whether you've seen it a million times or never, is absolutely wonderful in every way, from the tiny details like Frank's glittering red lips to the score brought to life by the little band sitting up high rather than in the pit, flashes of saxophones and electric guitar necks visible as they expertly offer a sense of place - I LOVED the band.

Tens, tens, tens across the board for a show I'll happily go back to see, over and over again.

Thank you, Alexandra, and your fishnet-stockinged staff, for another wonderful adventure into space.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show is on until Saturday, March 22 and tickets are priced from £15. I might go again before this run finishes!