Skip to Content

The Arts Intel Report

A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler

Faulty Towers: The Dining Experience

Sept 2 – Dec 18, 2021
9-13 Bloomsbury St, London WC1B 3QD

Fans of the BBC’s beloved 1970s sitcom Fawlty Towers, a comedy about the hapless yet lovable workers who staff a seaside hotel, don’t need to settle for reruns. Since 1997, they can inhabit the show thanks to a two-hour-long immersive dining experience—the comedy includes a three-course meal. Now in London’s West End, the evening’s slapstick servers are Basil, Sybil, and Manuel, who improvise roughly 70 percent of the dinner service gags and punchlines. As they provide roasted tomato soup and seared chicken with sage dauphinoise, the three characters bicker with each other—and the diners. Don’t, perhaps, arrive too hungry. As the Web site specifies: “Food is a prop in the show—not the other way round!” —J.D.

Manuel (Leigh Kelly) feeds an audience member at a “Faulty Towers: The Dining Experience” performance. Photo: Jared Harford.