Faulty Towers The Dining Experience is the live comedy equivalent of a cover band, delivering the nostalgic hits and memories paying tribute to the 1970s BBC comedy series Fawlty Towers.
Characters made famous by John Cleese and Prunella Scales, playing husband and wife hoteliers Basil and Sybil Fawlty, and Andrew Sachs as their bumbling waiter Manuel, are brought back to life, complete with costumes, accents and vague physical likenesses in actors Matthew Robson, Eilannin Harris-Black and Luke Alleva, respectively.
Taking on something so iconic is a double edged sword. On the one hand, you have instant brand recognition and can trade on an existing fan base – which has most definitely benefited this touring production, which first began in Brisbane and has been going strong for close to three decades now, performing regularly at festivals around this country and across the UK.
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On the other hand, there’s the risk you don’t do the original justice. These are big shoes, and long, goose-stepping strides to fill, after all. Copyright restrictions mean Faulty Towers (with a u) doesn’t lift directly from any episode of Fawlty Towers (with a w) but instead is an immersive and interactive dinner and show experience that captures the characterisations, the chaos created by the dysfunctional relationship dynamics and references the ‘greatest hits’ from the television show.
Secret gambling, a lost hamster, a fire drill gone wrong, an (unseen) drunk chef and yes, they do slip in a mention of Germans, are all included as a series of loosely assembled sketches rather than a satisfying overarching narrative, however that didn’t seem to bother Wednesday night’s full house at the Stamford Hotel in the slightest as they spent most of the two and a bit hours in uproarious laughter.
Stealing the show was Alleva’s Manuel, whose literal interpretations of instructions (for example, being told to “serve the rolls” saw him lobbing them about like a tennis player) and thick accent drove much of the humour. The double entendres flew out of him like airborne dinner rolls, much to the raucous delight of the audience.
In creating Faulty Towers The Dining Experience, Interactive Theatre clearly know their audience well and have delivered a nostalgic romp through the violent outbursts and verbal abuse of Basil, the haughtiness of Sybil and Manuel’s frenetic desperation to please, which will leaves fans of the show feeling like they’re an extra in a long-lost thirteenth episode.
