Getting Frank with Brendan

Forget about him being a stage superstar, he can boast one thing most wish they had – his own private dresser.

Dresser, as in a person paid to help dress him backstage as he frocks up for his role as Frank-n-Furter in the Rocky Horror Show.

“Isn’t that lovely, she helps dress other actors too, but I’m her primary concern,” Brendan boasted as he whipped out the tool belt filled with make-up his dresser wears backstage during the show to make Frank such a presence on stage.

“I have four costumes, and there isn’t a lot of time to change,” he said, just to clarify that it’s not frivolous for her to be around – even though she sometimes waits around with a drink for him too.

His dresser however, is proof of the long walk he’s taken as Frank-n-Furter since taking on the role in 2008 during a production for the Victory Theatre.

Though a fine actor and singer back then, he has been able to make Frank distinctively Brendan this time around, saying that his Frank is a little different now.

“He’s a bit mad this time. I’d go so far as to say bi-polar. He snaps from being sweet to mean in seconds. Compared to the last time I played him, he does have a bit more attitude.”

He attributes this to his own growth as a creative tree, where branches such as vocal coaches and directors helped mould the character into the spirited beast everybody loves to actually love.

Frank is charming, but so is Brendan, and I think that charm shines through

“Frank is charming, but so is Brendan, and I think that charm shines through,” he said.

“There’s a little bit of Frank in all of us – just a little bit more in me – I feel at home being him,” he chimes as he sticks monstrously long eyelashes to his eyelids.

But the role is important, and Van Rhyn feels it is imperative for the world to see the show.

Not just because it’s mad fun, but because there is a truth about being yourself that makes people celebrate being themselves, being individuals he explained. And Van Ruyn feels he is the teacher in the show who helps the audience realise just that – even though, under all that make-up he is still a simple Afrikaans boy from Pretoria who stands tall in or out of heels.