Tim Curry's Rocky Horror corset 'bought in the Barras'

It is a long way from Scotland to Transylvania, but without a Glasgow connection the cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show might have looked very different.

The recent autobiography by actor Tim Curry, who has played mad scientist Dr Frank-N-Furter on stage and screen, revealed the character's distinctive costume came from a Glasgow market.

Curry was appearing at the Citizens Theatre in 1971 when he first donned a Victorian corset, purchased by costume designer Sue Blane, for a production of French playwright Jean Genet's The Maids.

Both Blane and Curry then worked on Rocky Horror two years later, where the outfit was re-used.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a musical horror-comedy about a newly engaged, innocent couple, Brad and Janet, who suffer a flat tyre and look for help at a castle.

They encounter Dr Frank-N-Furter and the musical follows the couple's wild night.

Curry's recent book Vagabond recalls that after a stint performing in the counter culture musical Hair, he was seeking to try more classical onstage material.

Ironically, he ended up spending a year at the Citizens repertory company, which was establishing a reputation for unconventional theatre.

Among the parts in his run was Solange in The Maids - a production where the main female characters are played by males.

In his book Curry recalls director Lindsay Kemp being very tough with him on set, and details how he acquired the corset.

He wrote: "Sue Blane dressed me in a Victorian corset, worn backward, that she found on a cart at a local flea market - I think she paid three pounds for it."

Saffron Shearer, a wardrobe assistant at the recently reopened Citizens, told BBC Scotland that some versions of the story have the costume bought at the Barras market, while others suggested it was the old Paddy's Market on Shipburn Lane.

Saffron became interested in costume design by being a huge fan of the Rocky Horror Picture Show, and was thrilled when she started working at a theatre that had featured Tim Curry.

She told BBC Scotland: "The Maids was in the old studio theatre, not the main house, and it was pretty controversial at the time - quite filthy and weird.

"It was called the Close theatre and it had a little room to try more Avant Garde material. To overcome censorship laws they made it a private member's club, and that's where they were having poetry readings, film screenings and new theatre.

"Sue Blane was starting out at the time and doing costumes, and just found this corset at either the Barras or St Paddy's - over the years I've heard both. It was a very unusual shape, laced right up to the neck and not cut for a woman.

"I suspect she dyed it or covered it in stuff, to make it more tacky looking."

After finishing at the Citizens, Curry returned to London and began looking for work.

He encountered Richard O'Brien, who had just drafted the first version of Rocky Horror and was seeking a lead who was acrobatic, muscular and could sing.

Saffron added: "They had no budget, and were looking for set design and costumes. They knew Sue Blane and she's always said they got her drunk until she agreed to do it.

"She knew Tim, so thought the corset from the Citz world work. She got it posted down to her.

"The Maids pictures don't show anything sparkly so I assume she sparkled it up for Frank-N-Furter. When it took off and became the hottest ticket in London, they were still using it."

A three week run of the show in a small London theatre was met with great reviews and sell-out crowds, and the show was soon a smash hit, running throughout the West End in London, touring the country and spawning a film adaptation, starring Curry again.

Those versions all stayed true to the original's corset costume for Frank N Furter.

Earlier this year the Citizens Theatre Young Company's first show in the revamped theatre focused on the history of the Close studio space, including a scene written around The Maids and including references to Curry's future role as Frank N Furter.

Saffron said Curry's time at the Citizens - which the actor described as a "remarkable repertory theatre" in a recent interview with the New Yorker, external - appeared to have made an impression.

She said: "There was a lot of risks being taken, and he's always said they were being encouraged to tear chunks out the script. Everything was open to interpretation.

"Quite a few people were coming through there at the same time, like Ian McDiarmid, who played the Emperor in Star Wars. The corset just gives a really nice link between the theatre and Rocky Horror."