By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

WHEN?: Saturday 4 May, opens 15 May and runs through 28 September 2024 RUNTIME: 110 minutes (including a 20-minute interval) Update: Extended through 4 January 2025

In an era where box sets are king and series with multiple episodes are the norm it seems scarcely believable that beloved 70s, Torquay-set sitcom Fawlty Towers mustered just 12 episodes.

• Read on for reasons including how theatre is the natural setting for this superior farce

Debuting initially as Fawlty Towers Live in Australia and New Zealand in 2016, John Cleese’s Fawlty Towers – The Play, to give it its full title, actually draws heavily on just 3 of those classic episodes – Hotel Inspectors, Communication Problems and The Germans.

Like Netflix’s extraordinary current Baby Reindeer, Fawlty Towers was conceived by Monty Python’s John Cleese and his then wife Connie Booth after a real-life encounter with a Devon hotelier who viewed his guests as an inconvenience.

Fawlty manages and owns a hotel which is poorly run and although everyone is trying to do their best by the often very rude residents the humour comes from people going to extraordinary lengths to try to cover up their incompetence and we, as an audience, can’t help but root for the underdogs.

Basil is often outwitted by his wife Sybil and his love/hate relationship with her is a particular source of dark humour with his frequent hilarious references to her variously as the ‘tyrant Queen’, ‘toxic midget’ and ‘great sabre-toothed tart’ being viciously funny.

But this much you perhaps already know. The 1st question is perhaps how has the 30-minute TV episode format been altered here and is it to the comedy’s detriment?

Well, there are 3 distinct acts to this theatrical experience where a natural comic highpoint is reached after about half an hour but the scripts have been edited a little so that the 3 storylines actually intertwine cleverly and seamlessly.

None of the original cast including the incomparable Cleese, Prunella Scales and Booth appear here so how do stars Adam Jackson-Smith as Basil, Anna-Jane Casey (Mother Goose, Duke Of York’s) as Sybil and Paul Nicholas as the Major acquit themselves?

They’ve been cast cleverly because they share some of the physical attributes of their predecessors, adopt some of their favourite mannerisms but bring enough of their own spirit to the show so this is not merely a Stars In Their Eyes-style re-creation.

And how does the humour stand up after the shows 1st bowed in 1975 and 1979 respectively? There have been tiny tweaks but there is a reason why this is 1 of the most popular of British comedies and the lines stand the test of time.

Like Ricky Gervais’ The Office, the hotel setting provides a prison in which our heroes cannot escape and a rotating cast of visitors to present new predicaments.

Like Reece Shearsmith (The Unfriend, Criterion Theatre) and Steve Pemberton’s (The Pillowman, Duke Of York’s Theatre) Inside No 9, which announced its West End transfer this week, its format actually draws on the best of theatre and so this setting with its laughs building thanks to a live theatre audience actually contributes greatly to the shared experience.

There are spontaneous rounds of applause here particularly for beloved characters like Spanish waiter Manuel (a brilliant Hemi Yeroham unrecognisable from a similar turn in the fantastic La Cage Aux Folles last year at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre) as we share his joy in remembering to do what he’s told by an exasperated Basil: ‘I know na-thing!’

Comedies are notoriously difficult to get right because they rely on intricate timing but this cast is extraordinarily well-drilled so do check into Fawlty Towers because it’s the West End’s funniest comedy and will run – and run.

• Main picture via Facebook courtesy John Cleese’s Fawlty Towers – The Play Tickets
• Have you seen a Palladium show before and what did you think of this 1? Let us know what you thought in the comments below
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