Critics warm to John Cleese's production

John Cleese’s revival of Fawlty Towers for the stage has largely been deemed a hit by critics.

The comedian has dusted down scripts from the original sitcom for a show which has just opened at Sydney’s Roslyn Packer Theatre.

Although most reviewers said the show was in some ways pointless, as only a few linking lines were written for it, they praised the execution.

The Guardian was probably the most sniffy, saying: ‘ As a dramatic work, there’s nothing special about it. Everything looks and sounds almost exactly like it did on television, which is exactly what the production set out to achieve. No one can accuse it of failing in its mission to bring the show to the stage, live.’

Scripts from The Germans, The Hotel Inspectors and Communication Problems were blended together for the show, and the Sydney-based Daily Telegraph praised the actors as being ‘visually perfect, costumes, makeup, mannerisms all aping the originals without ever being cartoonish or creepy. Stephen Hall hits just the right manic note as the hapless Basil Fawlty, while Blazey Best inhabits his wife Sybil effortlessly, imbuing her with just the right amount of slightly scary 70s sass to stop her toppling into caricature’.

The British Daily Telegraph agreed, saying: ‘Yes, it is riding on the coat-tails of its source material, but this is why it ultimately works.’

The Daily Review concluded: ‘It’s a meticulous, detailed and undeniably successful recreation of the TV series, even if it never entirely justifies its own existence’; and the AU Review said: ‘Cleese and the team found a way to bring back the best moments of the series which will please Fawlty fans and introduce new ones to its brilliance. And no matter what category you find yourself in, you will laugh. You will laugh until it hurts.’

Crucially, the Sydney Morning Herald concluded: ‘Opening night revealed a show with obvious commercial (and West End) potential.’ 

Even The Sun had praise for the show, despite Cleese suggesting the London paper had commissioned a local reviewer with a brief to do a ‘hatchet job’ on the show.

The comedian, who has frequent run-ins with the British press, tweeted: ‘The Sun contacted a local journalist, asking him to review the show, but he declined as "they seemed to want a hatchet job." Anyone surprised?’

But Frank Thorne gave the show four stars for The Sun and said the show was a ‘two-hour romp of high farce, fun and frolics’.

After Sydney, the production visits Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane before the end of the year.

And the stage remake of Fawlty Towers comes as the BBC is poised to launch remakes and reboots of other classic comedies, including Are You Being Served? and Porridge.

Published: 22 Aug 2016