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The Arts Intel Report

Fawlty Towers

The cast of Fawlty Towers.

May 5 – Sept 28, 2024
Apollo Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, London, W1D 7EZ

In 1975, John Cleese and Connie Booth co-wrote Fawlty Towers, a British television show about an incompetent hotel manager named Basil Fawlty. In 2016, the pair reunited for a stage adaptation of the series that toured Australia. Now Cleese has combined three original episodes in a two-hour play. Basil, as hapless as ever, tries to get in the good graces of a group of guests whom he suspects are there to inspect his hotel. Starring Adam Jackson-Smith as Basil, Anna-Jane Casey as his wife, Sybil, and 16 other characters from the television classic, the play is chaotic, nostalgic, and as funny as ever. Caroline Jay Ranger directs. —Jeanne Malle