Ambassadors Hotel. Imagination Workshop Pty Ltd. 16 Feb 2015
There may have been only 12 episodes of Fawlty Towers but the show goes on - and on and on and on.
The Faulty variation of Fawlty, an interactive theatre production performed around restaurant meal service, has proven itself an enduring hit. It has been touring for years. This is not its first Adelaide Fringe season and one hopes it won't be the last.
The secret to the success of Brisbane-based Interactive Theatre International is simple. It has a large roster of Basils, Sybils and Manuels - terrific actors who bear a passing resemblance to the original characters and who can step into the roles and make them believable - and funny. In some ways they have it tougher than John Cleese's crew because they have to deal, night after night, with diners who may have had a few drinks and diners who are a bit over-excited about the whole idea and want to top the actors. So they have to be ready with a bit of improvisation and some good heckler retorts.
And they have two hours and three courses in which to keep it up. It's rigorous theatre.
In Adelaide, the Ambassadors Hotel's lovely balcony restaurant is the scene. Diners meet downstairs in the Marble Bar until Manual and Basil turn up and set the mood with a bit of shtick. It's the classic cornball language misunderstandings of Manuel. Manuel's battle with the quaint double meanings of English words always was good for a laugh and it still is.
Once in the restaurant at their allocated tables, the audience may or may not be efficiently served. It is spectacularly haphazard. Manuel is all over the place doing his very inept best while Basil is stalking, sneering, sniping and in exaggerated disdain almost throwing things on the tables. Sybil tries to keep order and reduces Basil to the thwarted browbeaten husband we all know and laugh at.
The team has a thorough, scripted routine which is enacted around the meal service, creating glorious disorder and general hilarity. The actors work every corner of the room so that no diner feels unnoticed. Indeed, some feel a bit too noticed. Manuel has little life crises going on. Basil is plotting with Manuel. Sybil is cracking up with that wild, snorting, horsey laugh.
Luckily, there are three enchanting professional waiters on hand to see that everyone gets all three courses and that fresh drinks can be ordered. It's the best of all worlds, really. Utter, ridiculous, outrageous silliness combined with a decent pub meal.
In Adelaide, Suzanna Hughes is playing Sybil. She is a thoroughly convincing treat in the wildest multi-streaked over-the-top wig. She's better looking than the original, but the trick of acting these parts is to embody the spirit of them and Suzanna, shrill and British, "is" Sybil. Ron Kelly is no look-alike either, but he creeps into John Cleese mode by assuming a Cleesian posture, a sharp edge to the voice and a marvellous manic look. As for Andy Foreman, he is the star of the show. Always with an endearing look of utter innocence and eagerness, he does the prat falls, clambers under and onto tables, sits on laps, primps hair and, oh so willingly, does the irredeemably worst table service in the business. It's a high-energy performance and sometimes it seems exhausting just watching him.
It might not be the most gourmet meal you ever had out, but it is absolutely of the zaniest. Ah, yes, these impostors make faultless Faultys.
Samela Harris
When: 14 Feb to 15 Mar
Where: The Ambassadors Hotel
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
