Like pretty much anybody else with a passing familiarity with British popular culture I grew up on John Cleese, Prunella Scales and Andrew Sachs in the original Fawlty Towers voted by British television professionals the best British series of all time was named the best British television series of all time.
It seemed unlikely that any tribute performance could meet the standards set by such an iconic show and the potential for the whole evening to be excruciating was considerable. Theatre restaurants tend to do neither food nor entertainment terribly well and I don’t even like Waldorf salad. But I was slotted to do this review so I resigned myself to the task. I’m so glad I didn’t pike.
Faulty Towers (the spelling difference is intentional) is a great night out with reliable laughs and, at the Aegean in Melbourne at least, a perfectly decent meal. From the time Ron Kelly as Basil appeared to usher us into the restaurant and instructed Andy Foreman as Manuel to pass around the nuts (Manuel! This gentleman doesn’t have any nuts!) we were treated to a reliably funny night of familiar gags with excellent comic timing.
It was uncanny to see Kelly’s capacity to make his eyes bulge a la Cleese, even if he hasn’t quite got the tall man’s distinctive physiognomy. Foreman, as Manuel, was priceless, every bit as good as Sachs in the original. The nature of the performance set in the restaurant gives him a somewhat larger role than in the real thing and he takes full advantage of the capacity to get close and personal with the audience. Karen Hamilton has Sybil Fawlty’s snorting laugh and squealing ‘Basil!’ down to a tee and looks for all the world like Prunella in the flesh.
The setting is so perfect for the show and the audience so familiar with the characters that the interactive elements which are so often painful in comedy work a treat here. We all know the set pieces and laugh as much in recognition as anything else but it’s amazing how funny the old lines continue to be – and there are some good new ones thrown in too.
The characters move around the tables responding to the guests so there is a certain amount of extemporising but mostly this is a very well-rehearsed show by actors who know how to do their thing around an unknown audience. We feel like we are watching improvisation but we are actually extras in a polished piece of theatre.
With the help of real waiters we are fed efficiently and well (a relief!) but be ready to eat without watching your plate. If you look down to put something on your fork there’s every chance you will miss a wonderful piece of comic timing being played out two tables down.
Faulty Towers tours internationally and will appear in various Australian capitals over the next 12 months. It is a perfect celebratory night out whether or not you are familiar with Fawlty Towers and a thoroughly enjoyable piece of comic theatre.
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Faulty Towers – The Dining Experience
The Aegean Restaurant, Fitzroy
3 – 21 April
Melbourne International Comedy Festival
www.comedyfestival.com.au
27 March – 21 April
