Dragon Review: Fawlty Towers, The Play – at G Live

Published on: 10 Dec, 2025
Updated on: 10 Dec, 2025

Basil (Danny Bayne) instructs Manuel (Hemi Yeroham) in a fine point of hotel etiquette. Hugo Glendinning

By Alice Fowler

In an upstairs bedroom, Polly shakes out a fresh pillowcase. Downstairs, Sybil slips off her earrings for a nice chat on the phone. Impatient guests, waiting to check-in, ring the reception bell in vain. And, resplendent in his empty dining room, with a moment to himself at last, hotelier Basil Fawlty sits back to read his newspaper.

With a blast of still-familiar music, we fly back in time: back 50 years, to twelve episodes of unforgettable British sitcom genius; back, triumphantly, to Fawlty Towers.

Having a laugh: Mia Austen as Sybil. Hugo Glendinning

Whether you were there first time round hardly matters: a treat awaits this Christmas at G Live. After a sold-out run in the West End, Fawlty Towers, The Play – written by the great John Cleese himself – plays at Guildford through to December 20th.

For anyone wondering if a stage version of Fawlty Towers can ever live up to the cult TV original, I have good news. Happily, this shows delivers, with Basil, Sybil, Manuel, Polly, the Major and the rest brought back to life by a top-notch cast.

‘No, I can’t help’: Danny Bayne as Basil fends off another phone call. Hugo Glendinning

Danny Bayne as Basil is surely attempting the impossible, following in John Cleese’s famously lengthened comic steps. Remarkably he succeeds, with a performance full of zany energy that recreates Basil before our eyes, never straying into pastiche.

Mia Austen and Joanne Clifton are excellent as Sybil and Polly respectively, while Hemi Yeroham has all the fun we might expect from Spanish waiter, Manuel. Amid a large cast of bothersome hotel guests, Paul Nicholas is particularly notable as the Major.

Polly (Joanne Clifton) and the Major (Paul Nicholas) spar across the reception desk. Hugo Glendinning

Director Caroline Jay Ranger stays true to the spirit of the original series, with many much-loved scenes unfolding – Basil betting on the horses, Sybil’s in-growing toe nail, the hotel inspectors expected, the Germans arriving, the fire alarm practice and so on.

Set designer Liz Ascroft’s set is excellent, a two-storey affair with a hotel room on the upper floor, and below, reception, office and dining room (plus of course the famous pair of swinging doors, leading to the kitchen). Beyond rise the roof-tops of Torquay and, somewhere out of sight, the sea.

Since 1975 when Cleese and Connie Booth co-wrote their seminal comedy, British hospitality has – we may hope – improved, at least to some extent. Nonetheless the comedy of the hopelessly rude hotel owner, the husband-and-wife team who despise each other, the uncomprehending waiter and the wrong dishes emerging from the kitchen remains as fresh and delightfully recognisable as ever.

Details and bons mots anchored in our national memory reappear, from Sybil’s shrilly irritating laugh, to Basil trying to uncork a wine bottle jammed between his legs, to Manuel’s famous “I know nothing” sketch. It’s still great fun to hear Danny Bayne as Basil roar: “A satisfied guest? We’d better have him stuffed.”

On opening night there were still some seats available. Do check in at Torquay’s worst hotel if you have the chance.

Fawlty Towers runs at G Live until December 20th. See www.glive.co.uk