A show that kept outgrowing its room · 1973 to 1976
The castle was a Victorian Gothic house that Hammer had used since 1949. The show began in a 63-seat room upstairs at the Royal Court. Follow it up the seating plan.
Move the show
In 1973 the stage show played three London rooms in turn. Each held more people than the last. Move the slider to change rooms.
Theatre Upstairs, Royal Court: 63 seats. 19 June to 20 July 1973.
19 June to 20 July 1973
63 seats
The Rocky Horror Show premiered at the Royal Court’s Theatre Upstairs on 19 June 1973, after previews on 16 and 18 June. Jim Sharman directed.
The Theatre Upstairs had 63 seats, and the run there ended on 20 July 1973.
A working theatre on Sloane Square. The front is on the square; inside only with a ticket.
It won the Evening Standard Award for Best Musical in 1973. It transferred to the Comedy Theatre on 6 April 1979. The London run closed on 13 September 1980 after its 2,960th performance.
Chelsea, London
Live marketplace results for walks round Chelsea, where the show played the Royal Court and the King’s Road. Check each route.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursThe castle and the tank
Rocky’s birth tank and dummy came from The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958); many props and set pieces were reused from Hammer productions.
In The Rocky Horror Picture Show the house is Dr Frank N. Furter’s castle. The film’s article says the house was in poor condition during filming.
Hammer moved in during August 1949 and shot five films there, including The Man in Black (1950). Hammer later used it for exteriors in The Brides of Dracula (1962), The Reptile (1966) and The Plague of the Zombies (1966).
A fan location list gives the address as Windsor Road, Water Oakley, on the A308 between Maidenhead and Windsor, and says it has been renovated as a hotel.
A working hotel on the A308 between Maidenhead and Windsor. Ask the hotel before visiting if you are not staying.
A fan location list says the film’s interiors were shot at Bray. The laboratory scene and Rocky’s creation were filmed on 30 October 1974.
Bray Film Studios stands on Windsor Road at Water Oakley. Before it was a studio it was Down Place, a Thamesside house built in the 1750s. Hammer bought Down Place in 1951, though some sources give 1952.
Hammer shot The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), Dracula (1958) and The Mummy (1959) here. Hammer sold the site in November 1970 for about £70,000.
A working studio behind gates; it is not open to visitors. The sign and gate can be seen from the road.
The film’s article says post-production was done at Elstree Studios. It does not say which of the Elstree sites.
The Shenley Road studios were begun by British National Pictures in 1925 and are now called Elstree Studios. Star Wars (1977) was filmed at the Shenley Road studios.
A working studio on Shenley Road. Only the street front can be seen.
The midnight
The film opened in 1975 to small audiences and was pulled from its eight opening US cities. Midnight screenings began in New York on 1 April 1976, with the Waverly central to the cult following’s start.
Shouted lines emerged about five months into the Waverly run.
By mid-1978 the film played at midnight on Fridays and Saturdays in over 50 locations; by the end of 1979, twice weekly in more than 230 theatres.
In St Louis the Varsity Theatre ran it from March 1976 until the cinema closed in January 1988.
IFC Center stands at 323 Sixth Avenue in Greenwich Village, in a building first built as a church in the early nineteenth century. It was the Waverly Theater, the original home of the midnight audience-participation screenings of the film.
A working cinema on the corner of Sixth Avenue and West 3rd Street. Walk in for a ticket.
Sixth Avenue at West 3rd Street, New York
The cinema in the old Waverly building. It ran a Waverly Midnights series when we looked; check the programme for what is on.
See what’s onGo and find them
Oakley Court is a hotel and the Royal Court, 279 King’s Road and IFC Center are working theatres and cinemas. Bray and Elstree are working studios, seen from the street.
6 places, from Berkshire to Greenwich Village.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
Building reference · Public access · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working hotel on the A308 between Maidenhead and Windsor. Ask the hotel before visiting if you are not staying.
Site reference · Restricted access · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working studio behind gates; it is not open to visitors. The sign and gate can be seen from the road.
Site reference · Restricted access · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working studio on Shenley Road. Only the street front can be seen.
Making the film · Windsor Road, Water Oakley, near Bray, Berkshire
Wikipedia puts Oakley Court at Water Oakley in Bray, Berkshire, a Victorian Gothic house that is now a hotel.
A working hotel on the A308 between Maidenhead and Windsor. Ask the hotel before visiting if you are not staying.
Making the film · Windsor Road, Water Oakley, Berkshire
Bray Film Studios stands on Windsor Road at Water Oakley. Before it was a studio it was Down Place, a Thamesside house built in the 1750s.
A working studio behind gates; it is not open to visitors. The sign and gate can be seen from the road.
Making the film · Shenley Road, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire
The film’s article says post-production was done at Elstree Studios. It does not say which of the Elstree sites.
A working studio on Shenley Road. Only the street front can be seen.
Stay
The house that played Frank N. Furter’s castle is a hotel on the Thames.
Windsor Road, Water Oakley
The Victorian house that played the castle, now a hotel in 35 acres on the Thames, under an hour from London, according to its own site. Pictured: Oakley Court from the lawn.
Check roomsGo there
The old Waverly cinema, and walks of Greenwich Village and Chelsea.
Sixth Avenue at West 3rd Street, New York
The cinema in the old Waverly building. It ran a Waverly Midnights series when we looked; check the programme for what is on.
See what’s onGreenwich Village, Manhattan
Live marketplace results for walks of Greenwich Village, where the Waverly corner stands. Check each route.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursChelsea, London
Live marketplace results for walks round Chelsea, where the show played the Royal Court and the King’s Road. Check each route.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursWhat’s on
Nothing dated for the film is listed at these places now.
No current dated events are listed. Check providers for the latest programme.
Dates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
6 of 6 places · 8 of 8 stories
Windsor Road, Water Oakley, near Bray, Berkshire
Oakley Court, already a Hammer house, plays Dr Frank N. Furter’s castle.
Windsor Road, Water Oakley, Berkshire
The laboratory scene and Rocky’s creation are filmed at Bray on 30 October 1974, with a birth tank from a 1958 Hammer film.
Shenley Road, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire
Post-production is done at Elstree Studios.
Sloane Square, Chelsea, London
The stage show opens in the 63-seat Theatre Upstairs on 19 June 1973.
279 King’s Road, Chelsea, London
After the Royal Court the show plays the 230-seat Chelsea Classic Cinema.
The show moves to the 500-seat King’s Road Theatre at 279 King’s Road.
323 Sixth Avenue at West 3rd Street, Greenwich Village, New York
Midnight screenings begin at the Waverly Theater in New York.
By the end of 1979 the film plays twice weekly in more than 230 theatres.
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Family-run hotel behind Buckingham Palace where Kate Middleton stayed before her wedding.
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Every place in The Rocky Horror Picture Show leads somewhere else.
