Fawlty Towers

I think John Petroff made a good choice in casting Mathew Stone as Basil Fawlty.  Stone is a different physical type from John Cleese which meant that he could get on with playing the role rather than crossing the boundary from acting to impersonation, which is the risk of such familiar - even iconic - material.  For the rest of the hotel staff, we saw Michelle Turner in a marvellously comic wig as the argumentative Sybil, David Hughes with a deliberately slow walk as the perpetually puzzled Manuel, the butt of much of Basil’s violent streak, and Lisa Suida as Polly, the token competent person amongst the staff of miscommunicating misfits. 

The evening was made up of two episodes from the television show.  In the first half, Mark Ward was hilarious as the opinionated commercial traveller, Mr Hutchison, a guest suspected by Basil of being one of the Hotel Inspectors.  The comic timing of his final slapstick exit was excellent.  (In a novel twist, the “real” Hotel Inspectors continued in character into the interval, and drew the raffle.) 

In the second half, we met The Germans.  This required more set, as both Sybil and Basil have spells in hospital.  The additional location was neatly achieved by means of a bed on a low-level extension of the apron stage.  Back on the main stage, Bob Hayward gave a very entertaining portrayal of the unthinkingly racist Major with his reminiscences of cricket and a bizarre conversation with a moose’s head.

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