Fawlty Towers Play review and star rating: ★★★
In news no one was expecting (apart from, perhaps, financial analysts) John Cleese has rebirthed Fawlty Towers for the stage. It only took him 45 years. More recently he’s rebranded as a right-wing firebrand for GB News, criticising the state of ‘woke’ comedy, tarnishing his reputation. So this’ll be terrible, right? Actually, it’s better than you’d think.
Alright, so the Fawlty Towers play cheats a bit. It’s a verbatim, line-for-line retelling of three original televised episodes, rather than anything new, and as Cleese said in a press preview, farce is by nature better suited for the stage than screen. So in plain terms, with good acting, the stories should land because Cleese’s writing, with former wife Connie Booth who played Polly, is good.
Cleese, who executive produced this as well as writing a new ending, has formulated a very capable cast to prove the comedian’s theory right that farce is indeed better on stage. You want to imagine Manuel spinning into an anxious heap on your lap. It’s funnier when the stakes are higher and the banana skin (or should that be moose head?) is within touching distance.
At face value, the formula works. The finale especially – The Germans – is a wild ride, a deliciously non-PC story about some Germans visiting the Torquay hotel run by owner Basil, the role originated by Cleese in the BBC sitcom. Yes, goose-stepping and gags about Hitler abound.
On other levels, it feels overly contained and repressive. The lack of freshness (the set is also unnervingly perfect to the TV show) means the actors often feel like they are performing a pastiche, an homage to the original. It’s hard to see where the TV show left off and the theatre show begins.
The cast is pretty hilarious. Victoria Fox’s Polly moves like a swan, never revealing the chaos beneath her feet, Anna-Jane Casey’s Sybil is sharply funny and Hemi Yeroham finds the requisite tenderness in the problematic, outdated character of Manuel. Adam Jackson-Smith’s Basil is effete and brash in turns but sometimes it feels as if he’s so worried about missing the punchline – and faithfully representing Cleese – that he misses it, and sometimes lacks bite.
It might not be challenging theatre, but it’s a nostalgic joy, much like watching an episode of the original show.
The Fawlty Towers Play runs at the Apollo Theatre
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