Fawlty Towers: The Play opened at Wales Millennium Centre during a heatwave, bringing the chaos of Torquay's most dysfunctional hotel to the stage. The production, adapted by John Cleese himself, stitches together three iconic episodes—The Hotel Inspector, The Germans, and Communication Problems—into a single evening of escalating farce, with a new finale added.
Faithful Recreation of a Beloved Sitcom
Director Caroline Jay Ranger delivers a faithful recreation of the BBC sitcom, with Liz Ascroft's set design instantly familiar to fans: a single set showing the reception, dining area, and an upstairs bedroom. The claustrophobic feel adds to the tension, building pressure-cooker-like towards the finale. The humour lives on timing, and the show makes no effort to reinvent the wheel—a shrewd move given the crowd's reaction.
Danny Bayne Excels as Basil Fawlty
Danny Bayne plays Basil Fawlty, doing a good John Cleese without straying into impersonation. After an initial period of readjustment, his performance excels at the physicality of the character, emphasising shifts from panic to performative politeness, or pure joy to screaming rage. Mia Austen's Sybil is the ideal foil, while Joanne Clifton's Polly holds everything together. Hemi Yeroham's Manuel remains a reliable source of punchlines, and Paul Nicholas's Major gets some of the best lines. Jemma Churchill's Mrs Richards is the hotel guest from hell who refuses to turn on her hearing aid.
Nostalgia-Driven Humour
The production leans heavily into nostalgia, with punchlines being laughed at well before they are delivered—sometimes more than an hour in advance. Simply mentioning the word “Germans” in the opening stages gets a laugh long before any Germans appear. As the old adage goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, and judging by the reaction, that was a shrewd move. The humour is not subtle, and it does not pretend to be; the pleasure comes from watching everything escalate until it finally snaps.
Fawlty Towers: The Play is very funny, very slick, and exactly the kind of production fans will love. Final performances at Wales Millennium Centre today at 2.30pm and 7.30pm.
