To book the show: see www.interactivetheatre.com.
(seen at the evening performance on 16th June 2024)
In Australia, around 18 years after the second and final television broadcast of classic TV sitcom “Fawlty Towers,” and 19 years before the current West End hit stage play adaptation was performed (also in Australia), Alison Pollard-Mansergh created this tribute to Torquay.
“Faulty Towers, The Dining Experience” (the title misspelling stuck), is a global phenomenon. Celebrating 10 crazy years in London, the monkey and friend were invited to an evening of fine dining, no riffraff allowed. How it snuck in, is anyone's guess - well-groomed companion for cover, it suggests.
The President Hotel near Russell Square does not have a view of Wildebeest sweeping majestically, and you cannot see the sea (or the sky, come to that) out of the window, but its bar and 70s / 20s cross-over brown-walled flying-saucer light fittings function room serve rather well for the show.
Turning left from the main door, down a short corridor, a bright red sign and even brighter red check-in desk assures you of being in the correct place. Once ticked off on the guest list, take a seat in the bar area (tables against the window, not booths, for the best view of the pre-show) – and do buy your drinks for the evening now.
Despite what the show’s website says, there are no drinks orders taken during the rest of the evening and the bar here is closed once the show begins. Your alternatives are a self-service selection of canned drinks in the hotel lobby or finding your way to the main bar beyond that – and doing so at awkward moments during dinner service, so, as the monkey said, buy now.
Worth noting that, self-service, a standard 330ml can of Coke is £1.99, a Coke and Jake Daniels £6.49, and if ordering alcohol get a QR code card from reception opposite the drinks refrigerators. Not entirely unreasonable bar prices by London standards, felt the monkey.
Around the published start-time, suddenly familiar waiter Manuel (Oliver Harrison) appears, scuttling around us, making friends until his tall employer arrives and instructs him to “collect glasses”... yes, it’s “game on”...
What happens here sets the whole tone for the night. Once Sybil (Beth Lily) has helped Basil (Jack Baldwin) find the guest list, Mr Fawlty will call your group’s name and tell you your table number (you can't choose, Sybil has already set the seating plan). Some (monkey included) got an obsequiously friendly greeting, others not moving quite so quickly, a flash of famous Fawlty sledgehammer wit.
Table 4 turned out to be a jolly bunch. A lovely family of four marking Fathers’ Day, two ladies from Bristol, and another married couple bonded closely – partly because the tables are rather small and they do like to squeeze you in.
Important point: our Bristol ladies arrived well after the show began. You really, really do not want to be late... though if you are, you had better hope someone arrives even later than you do, as it takes some of the heat off – but not much, as Basil never forgets.
Around a third of the show apparently is scripted, the rest improvised depending on audience reaction, so every show is going to be very different, particularly as Polly is away and unable to bring any sanity to proceedings.
This time, the confusion between a bread roll and an actual roll set the pace. You can choose to interact as little or as much as you wish, which is how we ended up with a 10-year-old girl guest serving our bread rolls (ingeniously flicking them with tongs for us to catch).
For the next half-hour Manuel runs around getting things very wrong, Basil attempts “staff training” and Sybil foils every underhand thing her husband is getting up to.
Each table gets personal visits from all the characters. Table 4, in the centre run by the window, got the most attention. A bull-fight between Manuel and guest (a little unhygienic as we have to eat off where he stood, and his shoe soles are not that clean), later a refuge beneath for both men from the Dragon. A fire extinguisher is also served.
Oh, and the monkey couldn’t resist when Basil loudly proclaimed that this dinner service was “not a pantomime” roaring back, “Oh Yes It Is” – prompting the reply “Oh No It Isn’t,” the rest of the table and room joining in. Almost worth the lengthy and vitriolic “I’m watching you” personal tirade which followed.
Familiar tropes from the series unfold - £50 and betting slips, O’Reilly’s money won and lost. Funny walk after a debilitating insertion of a fish, a fire drill which is potentially lethal for table 5 (table 4, we can just burn, apparently!) and trouble with the kitchen. Also, the “Siberian Hamster” makes a disappearance.
The monkey isn’t sure if all tables get an equal experience, as there is no amplification and some are further from the middle of the room, even round a corner if the show is even busier – but it guesses they adapt to the space and number of guests accordingly.
Anyway, our host trio never break character as they mix and mingle. Despite being the butt of jokes and perennial whipping-boy, Oliver Harrison’s Manuel has an engaging warmth and optimism. Inclined to literal interpretations of the English he almost understands, he excels at physical humour and is expert at manipulating guests into participating with the japes.
Beth Lily is a Sybil who is clearly still in exasperated love with her husband. She reaches the end of her tether quickly, then goes many yards beyond until her final explosion (happily taking place behind the screen of the bar area). Meantime, her clipboard is not just for keeping notes on – and is wielded with expertise.
Basil. Jack Baldwin. Never short of an “in character” reply, furtive (the diner to the monkey’s left had to warn it that it was being watched as it ate), nervous as a calf near a police-car, underhand as a political election manifesto and absolutely not in control of either himself or his dining room.
Still, amid the mayhem, a more than passable dinner is actually served. The menu changes seasonally, and this summer the starter is tomato & basil oil (geddit?) soup for all – the garnish literally thrown in later by your favourite waiter. Fair tomato taste with the hint of your host as promised... and one lucky guest gets a 'surprise gift' in his too... eeewwww...
Main, monkey’s companion went with the Roasted lemon & rosemary chicken option. She reported it as edible, but was slightly surprised to get it in a sort of pie form rather than leg as much of the rest of the table. Monkey opted for the pre-booked (compulsory as there is no choice on the night, and very efficient - they let Sybil in the kitchen know) veggie option of Caramelized Carrot Wellington. Again a sort of pie, bursting with carrot and onion.
Both came in a thin vegetarian gravy with slices of cooked vegetables and two Hasselback potatoes (a spud in a lightly cooked thin skin).
When Basil asked the monkey if it was enjoying its meal, it sent its compliments to Terry the chef – only to be told that it was not required as the drunken fool only bunged it in the microwave, no skill required.
If you are seeking Andre’s Restaurant dining, this isn’t it, but nobody was disappointed, with even the discerning teenagers on the monkey’s table seeming happy.
Not sure if it is part of the show, but Sybil announced a problem with dessert service, meaning we all had to wait until events literally ended in a cloud of fire-extinguisher smoke for our final course.
White chocolate & summer berry cheesecake with blueberry coulis wolfed down by the carnivores, a totally delicious Chocolate brownie & orange cake – sort of very creamy milk chocolate top with a lime tang, thin chocolate cake base – for us veggie options.
Good conversation with fellow guests for 20 minutes or so, before we bade our table and Torquay a fond farewell and headed for Holborn.
The key emphasis is on the “experience,” and it is not one anybody will forget in a hurry. If you love the television programme or have seen / plan to see the current stage version, you do need to add this chaotic (in every sense) and highly entertaining (also in every sense) version to your list, and not “eventually” either...
4 stars.
Photo credit: Jane Hobson, used by kind permission.
Legal compliance note: Theatremonkey and companion were invited guests of the production.