Fawlty Towers

This classic comedy show from the mid 70’s has aged very well from a  comedy perspective but despite only showing for 12 episodes is fairly iconic with characters that are instantly recognisable. This certainly needs taking into consideration when any society decides to tackle this material as inevitably it will be compared with the TV show.

North Manchester AODS chose “A Touch of Class”, “Communication Problems” and “The Hotel Inspectors” as the 3 episodes to perform. The set looked great and worked well with the dining room becoming a bedroom for part of the second episode. There was a large supporting cast for the 3 episodes with some players having multiple roles and also moving scenery and props on and off the stage to ease the traffic in the small playing and backstage space available. That worked really well and allowed the action to flow between scenes. Well done to Vanessa Randall on the direction of the 3 episodes which worked really well.

The lighting and sound were good with the only thing missing being the theme tune to the show. The costumes were very in keeping with the characters and the props worked well and were very 1970’s.

The permanent residents of Miss Gatsby, Miss Tibbs and Major Gowen were well played by Colette Green, Julie Skerritt and David Gordon respectively.

David Long put in a great performance as Manuel the waiter from Barcelona and not only delivered his lines well but played slapstick well too. Ruth Murray put in a lovely performance as Polly and delivered her lines expertly especially when it must have been so hard not to laugh at Basil and Manuel’s antics.

Jane Pearson played a really good Sybil including the very annoying snort/laugh that this character was so renowned for. She chastised Basil in just the right way whilst all the time you actually felt quite sorry for Basil.

Dom Pastore played Basil and had worked hard on the voice and mannerisms of this very well known character. He did a fantastic job on the part and I understand this was his first lead role. The part requires a confidence and commitment to learning what are difficult lines but also in a lot of instances iconic ones that can’t be messed with. Very well done Dne for bringing this character to life.

This was a lovely evening’s entertainment and very enjoyable to watch.

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