\n And how ironic that the Monty Python funny man – famed for his extreme \u2018Don\u2019t Mention the War\u2019 sketch and portrayal of manic hotel manager, Basil Fawlty – should find himself having to repeatedly defend a cult series that entertained millions after the first of 12 episodes aired in September 1975.\n<\/p>\n
\n Indeed, whilst Fawlty Towers may be as politically correct as a condom salesman in the Vatican – everyone of a certain age knows about Manuel, the hapless waiter from Barcelona who can barely speak English, and the now infamous \u2018German\u2019 sketch – this production remains largely faithful to the original TV show, combining two or three of the series\u2019 most famous storylines.\n<\/p>\n
\n If director Caroline Jay Ranger makes one concession to modern sensitivities, it is to remove Basil\u2019s hilarious slapping around of Manuel: Hemi Yeroham was at the helm as Spain\u2019s finest restaurant man with lashings of beautiful buffoonery, egging on and winding up his highly strung boss, another star performance from Danny Bayne as Basil.\n<\/p>\n
\n Hemi Yeroham as Manuel. Image: Hugo Glendinning\n<\/p>\n
\n The backdrop was perfect and the premise of the show familiar. Following a tip off that hotel inspectors may be visiting and eager to impress, Basil attempts to ingratiate himself with guests that he suspects are there to critique the establishment.\n<\/p>\n
\n The situation is further plagued by a party of Germans, the deaf and dotty guest-from-hell, Mrs Richards (Jemma Churchill), whose infuriating complaints prevent him from hiding a gambling win from his ever vigilant and bossy wife, Sybil (Mia Austen).\n<\/p>\n
\n Together they run their hotel with a little help from the unflappable Polly (Joanne Clifton), and very little help at all from Manuel, the trainee waiter from Barcelona who is the permanent butt of Fawlty\u2019s frustrations!\n<\/p>\n
\n There were knowing guffaws from the audience throughout and, thanks to Liz Ascroft\u2019s set and costume design, it didn\u2019t take much imagination to transport yourself back to those nights in the 70s when everyone had to sit down for Fawlty Towers as much as Brucie\u2019s Generation Game!\n<\/p>\n
\n Danny Bayne as Basil. Image: Hugo Glendinning\n<\/p>\n
\n But, beyond the obvious, comedy only works with split second timing and this cast had it nailed. Director Ranger summed up her tour de force: \u201cWe were mindful not to cast impersonators but solid actors who would deliver the dense script, embody strong contrasting characters and execute well-timed comic routines.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIn directing this piece, we (are) dealing with the serious business of comedy and drilling the timing of the choreographed sequences.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n And, as someone who has personal experience of performing in farce, comedy, often dismissed as spurious by so-called \u2018serious\u2019 actors, and invariably forgotten at Oscar time, is one of the hardest things to perfect.\n<\/p>\n
\n But, last night, Basil, Nazi goose stepping intact, was brilliant, Polly perfect and Sybil superb. John Cleese can hold his head up high knowing that his work of half a century ago remains as timeless and uniquely British as it ever did.\n<\/p>\n
\n And if a \u2018new\u2019 younger audience can let its hair down, sit in the dark of a theatre auditorium and let their inhibitions go, they just might start to understand why Fawlty Towers is so iconic, funny and remains so, albeit in a new format. And putting political correctness to one side, it\u2019s just preposterously daft, funny and understated brilliance in its simplicity.\n<\/p>\n
\n * Fawlty Towers: The Play runs at Leeds Grand Theatre until January 10.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"And how ironic that the Monty Python funny man – famed for his extreme \u2018Don\u2019t Mention the War\u2019…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":681333,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8814],"tags":[748,393,4884,1860,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-681332","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leeds","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-leeds","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115857331535396678","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=681332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681332\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/681333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=681332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=681332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=681332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}