Fawlty Towers – Live

Putting TV comedy series on stage is fraught with danger and in the case of the iconic Fawlty Towers even more so. In this world premiere production John Cleese, wearing his writer’s hat, has cobbled together the scripts from three of his favourite episodes, The Germans, The Hotel Inspectors and Communication Problems, to create a typical West End farce.

We’re still in the seventies, the period in which the series was originally written, but over-familiarity with the situations and dialogue in TV repeats has blunted the comedy. Although it takes a while to get going, once it does the laughs finally emerge thanks to a tireless ensemble cast who work miracles in recreating the hotel-from-hell. That it appears spontaneous and fresh at times is no small measure of their ability and Caroline Jay Ranger’s direction.

Stephen Hall is a marvellous Basil Fawlty - obnoxious, irritating, manic, but showing just enough of the clown to keep the audience on side. Blazey Best’s Sybil was a nice bossy foil for Basil, but her exaggerated “plummy” accent occasionally got in the way of the laughs. Syd Brisbane was the perfect Manuel and a riot with his fractured English, whilst Aimee Horne not only looked like a young Connie Booth as Polly but acted like her as well.

Outstanding performance of the night came from “old Pro” Deborah Kennedy, who was grandly overbearing as the selectively hard-of-hearing Mrs Richards. She showed how to play for laughs in a large theatre and had the audience eating out of her hand. Second tier characters were well cast with Paul Bertram’s Major, Paul Denny’s Mr Huchinson, Andrew Johnston’s Mr Walt, and the elderly spinsters delightfully fey in the hands of Ana Maria Belo (Miss Tibbs) and Anna Lee (Miss Gatsby).

Sets and costumes reeked of the BBC series, whilst the props, which included a moose head and a radio-controlled rat, delivered maximum laughs.

Director Ranger and her creative team have delivered a property that has “commercial” stamped all over it. There’s no doubt it’ll be a hit in Australia and even I suspect a long-run contender for the West End.

Peter Pinne 

Photographer: James Morgan