Review: Check in to Fawlty Towers as chaos comes to Milton Keynes Theatre
My expectations were sky high when I checked in to Fawlty Towers – The Play as it opened at Milton Keynes Theatre last night.
Many years ago, as a teenager, I’d bought all the 12 episodes of the classic British sitcom on VHS. I also own a copy of a book that contains all the scripts, so I can pretty much recite huge chunks of the show which first hit TV screens just over 50 years ago. More recently I’ve even attended a Fawlty Tower dinner in London, so it’s safe to say I’m a massive fan of John Cleese’s work.
The slight concern I had as I took my seat was if knowing the material inside out might somehow lessen my enjoyment of the production as I’d see the jokes coming a mile off. Also, could the actors cope with the pressure of transitioning such an iconic show to the stage?
But the theme tune started up, I marvelled at how the Torquay hotel set had been faithfully reproduced, and then the characters appeared one by one (looking and sounding spot on) and I knew I was in for a real treat.
Knowing in advance that the play would draw on three of the original TV episodes – ‘The Hotel Inspector’ and ‘The Germans’ from series one and ‘Communication Problems’ from series two – I was expecting them to be rolled out one by one. So what a nice surprise that they had been blended seamlessly together as one piece.
Danny Bayne was excellent as Basil Fawlty. He grew ruder, more arrogant, and increasingly desperate with each passing moment – and of course he was living in fear of Mia Austen’s Sybil, who had the perfect wig, spot on shrill voice and, oh god, that laugh!
Hemi Yeroham as hopeless Spanish waiter Manuel nailed it as he caused confusion with dining room orders with his limited understanding of the English language. Sometimes you could see the cogs in his brain turning oh so slowly as he tried and failed to understand Basil’s instructions.
Other characters who stood out included deaf Mrs Richards (Jemma Churchill) who wouldn’t turn on her hearing aid as the battery would run low. She was certainly right when she declared “This is a madhouse”.
Mr Hutchinson (Greg Haiste) was brilliantly fussy and you could see Basil’s rage growing when the guest turned down his omelette due to the “freshly frozen” peas.
But topping the lot was Paul Nicholas as the eccentric Major who got rather confused at the most inappropriate times – including when Basil asked him to hide his gambling winnings from Sybil... and who could forget the magnificent moose head scene with Manuel.
If you loved the original TV series, you’ll absolutely love this play. I did notice that a large percentage of the audience seemed to be aged 55+ – so it’d be interesting to know if younger audience members enjoyed it as much as those of us going on a nostalgic journey back to the 70s.
Fawlty Towers is in Milton Keynes until Saturday. Book your tickets now at ATGTICKETS.COM/MiltonKeynes.