Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ and I’m Tim Bradley!

Last weekend, I saw ‘Fawlty Towers – The Play’ at the Apollo Theatre in London, based on the TV sitcom series ‘Fawlty Towers’. I greatly enjoyed watching this theatre production of ‘Fawlty Towers’, finding it a fascinating version of one of my favourite comedy TV shows.

In the past, I’ve seen theatre productions of ‘Fawlty Towers’ in Cardiff run by the Everyman Theatre Company, who later did productions of ‘Dad’s Army’ and ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ in 2018. They did two – one in St. Fagan’s back in 2012 and one in Sophia Gardens in 2013.

I enjoyed those very much and they were basically three episodes one after the other. In 2012, there was ‘Communication Problems’, ‘Waldorf Salad’ and ‘The Hotel Inspectors’. In 2013, there was ‘Gourmet Night’, ‘The Psychiatrist’ and ‘The Germans’. Happy times! 🙂

For this latest theatre production I saw in London, it was interesting to discover that three episodes of the TV series were adapted for theatre and formed as one storyline. The episodes include ‘The Hotel Inspectors’, ‘Communication Problems’ and ‘The Germans’.

John Cleese (who played Basil Fawlty and co-created ‘Fawlty Towers’ with Connie Booth, who played Polly in the series) adapted the three episodes of the TV series for theatre to form one storyline. Like I said, I found this a fascinating theatre version of the TV series. 😐

Not to say I found it terrible. Far from it. ‘Fawlty Towers – The Play’ was definitely worth my attention. But I can’t say it was an entirely satisfying experience, especially when I know the episodes pretty well line-for-line and not all the dialogue was included for this version.

Now to be fair, some lines of dialogue are necessary to not be included for this theatre version of ‘Fawlty Towers’, such as the Major’s racial slurs in ‘The Germans’ episode. I was quite surprised that ‘The Germans’ was getting adapted for this version of ‘Fawlty Towers’.

But when you notice the plots of ‘The Hotel Inspectors’, ‘Communication Problems’ and ‘The Germans’ blending into each other and cutting out certain moments you know from their TV counterparts, you can tell they’re not direct translations of the TV episodes for theatre.

You also notice certain guest characters from certain episodes are in later episodes of the theatre production. Mr. Walt, who was in ‘The Hotel Inspectors’, also appears in the ‘Communication Problems’ and ‘The Germans’ portions of the play, which was intriguing.

Mrs. Richards, who was in ‘Communication Problems’, is present for the fire drill in ‘The Germans’, which was so unusual. Also, ‘The Germans’ section of the play doesn’t end with Manual having the moose on his head and the Major saying “You naughty moose!” 😦

It ends with Basil realising that there are three hotel inspectors in his hotel after he insulted the Germans and Manuel caught fire from being in the kitchen, and then he screams. It wasn’t what I expected when checking out the ‘Fawlty Towers’ theatre play. 😐

The cast were very good in this production, including Adam Jackson-Smith as Basil, Anna-Jane Casey as Sybil, Hemi Yeroham as Manuel, Victoria Fox as Polly, Paul Nicholas as the Major and Rachel Izen as Mrs. Richards. They provided fun takes on the characters.

Mind you, I could tell when performing on stage in the theatre, the actors can be more exaggerated in their movements compared to the TV series which wasn’t so exaggerated. I did find that quite distracting when I checked out the theatre play from beginning to end.

There also weren’t so many belly laughs for me when checking out ‘Fawlty Towers – The Play’ in London. I certainly laughed when watching the play, but it wasn’t with the same enthusiasm I had when I watched the theatre productions of ‘Fawlty Towers’ in Cardiff. 😐

There was a moment in the London theatre production that I found funny. It was when Mrs. Richard called for ‘Watt’ (Basil) and Mr. Walt, at the reception desk, told her his name wasn’t ‘Watt’, but ‘Walt’. I found that clever in terms of adapting the episodes as one storyline.

It’s also intriguing how ‘Fawlty Towers – The Play’ as a story was told in taking place over two days. Act I ended with Basil asking the Major to look after his winnings from the horse Dragonfly. Act II began with the next day of Basil being met by Mrs. Richards at reception.

Incidentally, there was a voiceover introduction by John Cleese before the play started, asking people not to take photos or record anything on video when the play was being performed. I also noticed there weren’t any hospital scenes from ‘The Germans’ in this. 😐

There was only one stage for the production, as the reception, the main hallway and the dining hall were all compressed into one. There was also one bedroom set at the top of the stage for a Mrs. Richards scene. There was also no bar set featured in the production.

I noticed that the German characters featured were compressed from six characters as in ‘The Germans’ TV episode to three characters in the theatre production. There were also elements of other episodes featured in the play, including the rat from ‘Basil the Rat’ running about.

I’m afraid I missed seeing the rat in the play. I’m surprised it wasn’t mentioned that the rat happens to be Manuel’s pet hamster. After all, Manuel did think Basil said he wanted his ‘hamster’ when he actually said ‘hammer’. Sadly, Terry the chef didn’t appear in the play.

‘Fawlty Towers – The Play’ has been an enjoyable stage version of the TV show with the three episodes adapted by John Cleese for the theatre. It was fun to check out this theatre production, although I would have preferred the episodes performed one after the other. 😐

It got confusing when the plots blended into each other as one storyline. Plus, there wasn’t a lot of time to appreciate the characters as they were developed in one storyline. I know a theatre production isn’t meant to match the TV show and must have its own spin.

But since I know the TV episodes inside and out and know how the plots and characters are played, it’s distracting when things are omitted in the theatre production compared to their TV productions. I prefer the Everyman Theatre Company versions in Cardiff more.

I’m still recommending checking out ‘Fawlty Towers – The Play’ in London though. If you’d like to see it, the play is being performed in the Apollo Theatre until the 1st of March before it returns for another run of performances from the 24th of June to the 13th of September.

There’s also going to be a tour of the play from September 2025 to July 2026 in various parts of the UK and Ireland, including Plymouth, Guildford, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Ipswich, Birmingham, etc. I’m looking forward to when it comes to Cardiff for a week in June 2026.

‘Fawlty Towers’ continues to be one of my favourite TV sitcom shows. I enjoy checking it out when I can, either on DVD, audio or on YouTube via Google Play. I’m glad I was inspired by ‘Fawlty Towers’ to write my ‘Doctor Who’ story ‘The Space Hotel’ based on it.

Please check out the links for ‘Fawlty Towers – The Play’, including the West End performances in London and the UK and Ireland tour dates. I leave you with a special video to promote the play with Adam Jackson-Smith as Basil and John Cleese as himself.

Enjoy!

Thanks for reading and watching!

Bye for now!

Tim 🙂