Fawlty Towers

Widely regarded as the greatest of the sitcoms from TVs Golden Age of the 1970s, 'Fawlty Towers' is as part of the comic landscape as Tommy Cooper's fez, Sid James' lascivious chuckle or Eric Morecambe playing all the right notes (but not of course necessarily in the right order.) It needs no introduction and is that rare cultural phenomenon, a sitcom both fondly regarded and critically acclaimed. It could be argued that in bringing the TV show to the stage, 'Fawlty Towers' is returning to its roots in the world of the Whitehall farce: slapstick misunderstandings, mixed messages, crosstalk and confusion, trousers that have a habit of falling down inexplicably (and frequently) all with hilarious consequences'. ‘Fawlty Towers' is TVs supreme tribute to Feydeau and Brian Rix and to see it on stage should seem only natural. And yet...an immediate problem in transferring a well-loved and familiar TV programme to the stage lies with the audience's expectations. Not only have the plot and the characters been ingrained into the popular consciousness but more importantly, the iconic performances of the original performers have become set in stone as the definitive, one might almost say canonical, interpretation. A dilemma is immediately apparent for any production taking on such a well-known show: attempt to copy the original and risk giving an inevitably second rate impression or at best, a pale imitation, or put your own stamp on the material, giving a fresh take on characters so firmly ingrained in the collective consciousness and risk alienating an audience expecting a familiar rerun of a TV favourite.

The evening was made up of 3 episodes of the show: 'A Touch of Class', 'Waldorf Salad' and 'The Germans', the society having already produced 3 different episodes to great acclaim last year. The curtain opened to reveal an excellent set which gave a flavour of the TV original without being a slavishly reproduced copy, with hotel lobby and office stage right and dining room and kitchen stage left. Scene changes (to the bar and bedroom) were handled smoothly and with a slick professionalism: full marks to the technical team. Richard Sanderson led the cast as Basil Fawlty, the irascible, put-upon hotelier and gave a confident - if perhaps for me, slightly lightweight - performance in the role created and portrayed by John Cleese on TV. Clearly loved by the audience, Richard's humorous performance lacked a little bite for me however, and with the shadow of John Cleese's monumental performance looming over any other actor brave enough to step into his shoes, it is a virtual impossibility to recreate such a towering comic force without somehow falling short. A good attempt though Richard. Marina Butterworth as Sybil bounced through proceedings with the long-suffering froideur required of the role and Dennis Royle made a delightfully dotty Major. Particularly impressive was the inclusion of the Major's 'controversial' speech - you know the one and if you don't, get out your 'Fawlty Towers' DVD and refresh your memory because I won't be reprinting it here! There seems little point in attempting to recreate a cultural artefact from a not too distant past only to balk at anything that political correctness no longer deems acceptable: congratulations to the production team for being brave enough to stick with it.

Along with Dennis Royle as the Major, Danny Eddison as Manuel and Vicky Royle as Polly impressed with their interpretations of two more regular characters from the show: they really added flesh to the bones of their characters, giving them a commendable solidity. Vicky is a performer one seldom tires of seeing on stage and Danny is a performer of some ability whom I look forward to seeing more of on stage in future. Milly Greenwood and Liz O'Connell as Miss Tibbs and Miss Gatsby completed the line-up of hotel regulars, bringing a breezy humour (and some commendably flat Northern vowels!) to the stage. Other smaller roles were played with confidence by the rest of the cast and it was great to see the teamwork evident in making the show run smoothly. There were however a few performances that really stood out for me...

The first episode concerns the crooked imposter Lord Melbury and his attempts to swindle the snobbishly credulous Basil and Malcolm Gent exuded an air of confidence as this tricksy confidence trickster. Perhaps a more haughtily oleaginous take on the character would have been more to my taste but Malcolm did a great job of playing the rogue. Kevin Riley excelled as the undercover policeman on his tail and also appeared as the American guest in the following episode, 'Waldorf Salad', for my money the best of the three episodes due in no small part to Kevin's performance. Also appearing as a different character in 'The Germans', demonstrating his easy versatility, Kevin really made the parts of Danny Brown and Mr Hamilton his own, putting his own edge on familiar characters from the TV show, bringing them to life superbly, imbuing both - very different - roles with wit and with a firm command of the stage, When it came to walking the fine line between giving the audience a familiar TV role and bringing something new to the characters, Kevin really 'got it' as far as I was concerned: an impressive performance. An honourable mention must also go to Peter Hampson as the guest who never gets his drinks order: a show stealing little cameo role that was well judged.

The final episode, 'The Germans', is perhaps the most readily brought to mind by even the most casual viewer of the TV series. As it unfolded, I found that both this episode and 'A Touch of Class' suffered from appearing rather thinly written. Maybe any slight cuts or alterations needed in the transition from screen to stage had an effect, or it could be that without the familiar performances of the original TV shows, the episodes on stage seemed markedly thinner in content, development and comic dramatic thrust. No fault of the production or the performers I'm sure but it was instructive to observe that in moving from TV screen to the stage, something had been lost and as an artistic venture, mounting a stage production of the TV favourite seemed - to me at least - somehow redundant.

Nevertheless, despite my minor quibbles and concerns about the nature of the transition from screen to stage, the large audience clearly enjoyed the evening; rewarding the production with gales of laughter and appreciative applause. It's always a pleasure to visit the Pendle Hippodrome Theatre and the society does a great job in making everyone feel welcome and entertaining large audiences on a regular basis. It is also to the society's credit that they maintain such a high standard across a wide - range of productions and for this, they deserve our thanks. I look forward to their next offering with keen anticipation.

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