Fawlty Towers – The Play – Royal & Derngate, Northampton

Writers: John Cleese and Connie Booth

Adaptor: John Cleese

Director: Caroline Jay Ranger

It may seem hard to believe, but there were only two series of Fawlty Towers. Twelve episodes, which first hit our airwaves fifty years ago, yet for fans of the TV programme the characters and catchphrases have become permanently etched in their minds.

So it is little surprise that there’s an almost palpable sense of nostalgia amongst the audience as the theme tune starts up and the play begins. The production team and cast have done a remarkable job in recreating the location and characters that are still familiar, even fifty years on.

We start with an open stage, which gives the audience plenty of time to admire Liz Ascroft’s set which pretty faithfully depicts the lobby, complete with front door and staircase, set alongside the dining room on the other side of the stage. Then the cast assemble – visually almost perfect (with Ascroft faithfully recreating the costumes too).

The feeling of familiarity doesn’t end with the set and characters – it also extends to the material, which offers both benefits and disadvantages. There’s little in the way of anything new here, being a rehash of three of the TV episodes put together to create an ongoing narrative. The adaptation by John Cleese works pretty well in giving us a coherent flow through the piece, so it doesn’t feel too episodic despite the lighting being dimmed and the music kicking in from time to time as we move from one storyline to another. Reusing the plotlines and dialogue from the TV programmes does mean that the fans in the audience know exactly what’s coming next and can anticipate the lines – the ”herds of wildebeest”, the “I am from Barcelona”, the “don’t mention the war”, all the favourite punchlines are there, and they’re all predictable. That leads to an inevitable comparison with the delivery of the original actors, and good as the cast are, they’re usually going to fall short in that respect.

Danny Bayne gives us an almost spot-on Basil Fawlty, with a simmering resentment of his guests and their expectation that he might do something for them, with a barely suppressed impatience that frequently bursts out, the fawning over anyone he may feel is important. He has Fawlty’s exaggerated energy, with good delivery and sense of timing, understanding the importance of the pause. Opposite Bayne we have Mia Austen, giving us a wonderfully accurate portrayal of Sybil, complete with the classic Sybil laugh. She delivers all the put-downs, the criticisms, with an acidic wit and a typical Sybil Fawlty eye-roll, depicting the character created by Prunella Scales almost perfectly. Joanne Clifton’s Polly is also pretty accurate, bringing a sense of calm competence to the chaos that is the norm at Fawlty Towers, with Hemi Yeroham rounding up the staff quartet as Manuel, channelling the Andrew Sachs character rather than copying it.

They are supported by a strong cast, including a scarily accurate depiction of the Major by Paul Nicholas and the most wonderful portrayal of a pompous, hard-of-hearing Mrs Richards by Jemma Churchill.

It’s a faithful recreation of a TV programme from fifty years ago, and if nostalgia and remembering views that were prevalent at that time is your thing, you’ll enjoy it. It’s satire, and the Basil Fawlty character is written to mock the British feeling of superiority and an obsession with the war. Notwithstanding that, times have changed, and some of what is depicted feels uncomfortable in today’s environment. Surely we’ve moved on from the sort of cultural and racial stereotyping that existed in many sitcoms of around that period, whether or not intended as self-mockery – the notion of the stupid Spaniard, the German in a Tyrolean hat, the goose-stepping round the hotel lobby – and understand that programmes like this are now past their sell-by date.

Runs until 22 November 2025 and on tour