Fawlty Towers: The Play – a ‘hugely entertaining blast of unadorned nostalgia’

Does the West End really need a stage adaptation of “Fawlty Towers”, the “greatest British sitcom ever made”? I entered the theatre feeling pretty sceptical, said Fiona Mountford in The i Paper. But I “emerged two hours later, giddily and delightfully weak from laughing and reminded for the umpteenth time of the sheer folly of making pre-emptive judgements about shows”. 

John Cleese himself scripted this adaptation, which weaves together three favourite episodes of the comedy he co-wrote with Connie Booth: The Hotel Inspectors, The Germans and Communication Problems. Thanks to slick writing, hilarious performances and “super-smooth” direction from Caroline Jay Ranger, it recreates the original TV show’s “magic” and leaves the audience “wanting more, much more”.