A nostalgic treat for admirers of the 70s sitcomRating
Good
Those with an interest in television history in general and sitcoms in particular of course can’t be unaware of John Cleese and Connie Booth’s Fawlty Towers, which retains a reputation as a short-lived but perfectly formed example of the genre.
I wouldn’t describe myself as a massive fan – more a casual admirer – so I was open for this touring production of the stage version (following a West End run) to fall anywhere between faithful and sacrilegious, as long as it was funny. I chuckled regularly throughout, so I guess that’s job done.
All the iconography is certainly in place, from the well-designed split-level hotel set to the hair and costumes, and the theme tune which welcomes us to the show with a warm wash of familiarity.
As put-upon hotelier Basil Fawlty, Danny Bayne has John Cleese’s body language down pat: hands flapping expressively, and posture frequently tending towards a nervous lavatorial squat. You couldn’t ask for a more sympathetic impression of the original performance, and the rest of the cast are similarly recognisable.
The show’s plot is culled from a handful of the TV episodes (adapted by Cleese himself), so we get Basil mistaking a spoon salesman for a hotel inspector, Basil trying to conceal a win on the horses from nagging wife Sybil (Mia Austen), and a concussed Basil failing not to mention the war to a group of visiting Germans. The hotel manager is central throughout, with Sybil even written out for a while as she attends hospital to have an ingrowing toenail seen to. Maid Polly (Joanne Clifton) isn’t given a great deal to do, though she does get to share a sharp bit of farce with Basil as they bamboozle one of the hotel’s exasperated guests.
I interrupted some fellow audience members at the Wetherspoons across the road afterwards, and they said they’d enjoyed the show but had preferred the Only Fools and Horses stage adaptation because that had delivered a more original plot. But there’s no denying ‘the hits’ went down very well here: by far the biggest laugh went to Basil’s goose-stepping during the German section.
My own favourite aspect of the show was Hemi Yeroham as Barcelonan waiter Manuel, whose blend of eagerness and bewilderment I found delightfully funny and a genuinely fresh take on the character originated by the late Andrew Sachs.
Fawlty Towers: The Play will be found most pleasing by true devotees of the television series, but it’s also a very decent night out for those less well acquainted with John Cleese’s brand of small-town hospitality.
Written by John Cleese and Connie Booth
Adapted by John Cleese
Directed by Caroline Jay Ranger
Set and costumes by Liz Ascroft
Lighting design by Ian Scott
Sound design by Rory Madden
Fawlty Towers plays at New Wimbledon Theatre until Saturday 25 October, and tours until July 2026.
