Review – Fawlty Towers, Royal and Derngate, Northampton, 18th November 2025

Posted on November 19, 2025 by therealchrisparkle

Hello, Fawlty Towers?

If you’re anything like me, gentle reader, you quake a little at the prospect of seeing a stage show based on a TV show. I have gloomy memories of seeing the stage production of Yes Prime Minister and the recent stage adaptation of Drop the Dead Donkey was only moderately entertaining. I genuinely hated the Menier Chocolate Factory’s 2009 production of Victoria Wood’s Talent as the two main actors simply did impersonations of Victoria Wood and Julie Walters as they performed in the original TV play; and it only made you want to see the real Victoria Wood and Julie Walters. So I was in two minds about how wise it was to spend a theatrical evening at Fawlty Towers.

I Know!!!…

Those twelve classic TV episodes are unassailably cherished in many people’s memories, so it was an undoubted risk on John Cleese’s part to adapt the show for the stage. It hit the West End with huge success in May 2024 and now it is touring the UK and Ireland right through to August 2026. The show is a compilation of three episodes, The Hotel Inspectors, The Germans and Communication Problems, with the odd nod to a couple of other stories. I’m not going to tell you what they are all about because I’m sure you haven’t been living under a rock for the past fifty years.

Polly squares up to the Major

The theatrical Fawlty Towers is massively more entertaining than any of those three productions I mentioned earlier. The adaptation is excellent, combining the three stories into one cohesive narrative, and the staging emphasises the farcical nature of the production; Feydeau would have loved it. It’s performed with tremendous conviction and manages to recreate the original with huge affection as well as putting its own subtle individual identity on it. Wisely, it doesn’t try to end with any form of resolution to the stories, just a chaotic tableau of everything going wrong, which perfectly encapsulates Fawltyland.

I’m sorry, he’s from Barcelona

Liz Ascroft’s breathtakingly impressive set occupies the entire stage, with the hotel reception, the dining room, the stairs up, and a top floor bedroom as well as cleverly showing us the hotel frontage and that persistently unreliable hotel name sign. The costumes are totally faithful to the original series, as is the incidental theme music. My only quibble with the overall production is that we hear that theme way too often during the course of the show; I can only imagine that if they were live musicians, Basil would have headbutted them in exasperation and snipped their strings before the evening was out.

Papers arrived yet, Fawlty?

There is a separate question to be asked: fifty years on, does it still work as comedy? Some people maintain – and indeed John Cleese is one of them – that comedy has been ruined by the wokerati and you can’t say funny things anymore. This is of course nonsense; you just have to be better at it. What certainly stands the test of time is the immensely funny characterisations: the belligerent, bombastic, oleaginous host, his coarse, braying, bullying wife, the demanding customer who only speaks circuitously, the forgetful old fool living in the past and the impatient deaf old woman who won’t turn her hearing aid on.

Don’t mention the war

Where, for me, it becomes less appealing is with its approach to foreigners, primarily the treatment of the idiotic Spanish waiter, and its carefree portrayal of violence, both domestic and against the staff and customers. In the 1970s, the TV series absolutely captured the zeitgeist with the British continued uneasy relationship with Germany, which was immaculately realised with Basil’s largely unintentional harassment of his German guests. Today, that whole Goebbels, Goering and Hitler funny walk routine just makes me cringe. But I must be honest, there were sections of the audience who found that completely hysterical.

He’s got a gun…

When you’re adapting such a well-known original work, it’s vital that we believe in the actors’ characterisations, and here the production is extremely successful. I hardly recognised Danny Bayne from his excellent performances in Grease and Saturday Night Fever, playing such a completely different kind of character, but he is again extremely good. His dancer training really allows him to convey Basil’s physicality and his fluidity of movement; bouncing back from behind the reception desk, being knocked out by the moose head, and the goosestep are performed with extraordinary precision and skill.

Hope there’s nothing trivial wrong with you dear

Mia Austen absolutely nails Sybil’s ruthless streak, those piercingly angry eyes burrowing into Basil’s soul whenever she gets a chance; and she’s also great on the phone, with her suggestive cackle and that trademark I know… Waitress Polly never had that much of a characterisation in the TV programme, perhaps just being the lone voice of sanity, so there isn’t much for Joanne Clifton to get her teeth into, but it’s a sunny and nicely comic performance. Hemi Yeroham has a difficult task to make Manuel a believable person as the original was written as so much of a caricature, but his comic timing is immaculate.

I know nothing

For me, the scene-stealing performance of the show is Paul Nicholas as the Major, because it’s the least hysterical and most realistic characterisation, playing the whole thing straight when everything around him cascades into nonsense. He delivers his killer lines beautifully, genuinely makes you think he is talking to a moose, and is the embodiment of a loveably forgetful old duffer. There’s also terrific support from Jemma Churchill as the cantankerous Mrs Richards and Greg Haiste as the troublesome Mr Hutchinson.

…and curtain!

Very nostalgic but with a creative twist, this is a strong production with immense attention to detail. A suitable show for both Fawlty Towers fans and those who know nothing about it. There are hardly any tickets left for the rest of the week, so you’d better get in quick if you want to see it!

Production photos by Hugo Glendenning

Four They’re Jolly Good Fellows!

Review – Cinderella, Royal and Derngate, Northampton, 21st December 2024

Posted on December 22, 2024 by therealchrisparkle

The big panto at the Royal and Derngate for Christmas ‘24 is Cinderella, one of the best loved panto stories of all time, and given all the colourful, brash treatment you would expect from Evolution Productions. All the vital elements are there – lots of singing and dancing, vivacious and eccentric costumes, putting the spotlight on one poor bloke in the audience for unwanted advances from the Ugly Sisters (well done to Jamie for taking one for the team), a ghost bench, a favourite children’s TV star, a Fairy Godmother, and of course a happy ending.

One of the joys of a well done panto is its ability to appeal to an audience of all ages. It’s most important that it captivates the children – after all, they are the theatregoers of the future – but it also needs to have plenty in it for the mums and dads. This particular production is heavily targeted at the youngsters, and it’s a pleasure to see how enraptured they are by it, with very noisy audience participation in the singalongs and pointing out the ghosties.

One of the more interesting aspects of this production is how it addresses some stereotyping that you find in every panto – with Muriel the overconfident eight year old stepping in to point out that Cinderella doesn’t need a Prince Charming to be a fully realised woman, and that if she’s cooking and cleaning for her sisters then she’s doing it on her own terms. Cue at least 50% of the audience quietly muttering You Go Gurl under their breath. This Cinderella is not the usual browbeaten drudge who caves in at bullying; rather, she calls it out and challenges the sisters for their outrageous treatment of her. When she tells them that she refuses to cry no matter what they do to her, you realise this is an excellent life lesson for the children to learn and may give confidence to any kids present who are being bullied at school. It’s a shame then, that this message does not follow through; when they later insist that she tears up her invitation to the Royal Ball she rather pathetically complies, instead of telling them to stick their vindictiveness where the sun doesn’t shine. It’s an unfortunate inconsistency in the characterisation.

Our Fairy Godmother, played by Joanne Clifton, is still earning her stripes and she won’t get a magic wand unless she manages to make two people fall in love for who they are rather than for their titles; it’s another interesting modern message, this fairy isn’t merely matchmaking a Prince and Princess. Naturally Ms Clifton brings all her dancing skills to the role, and there are lots of Strictly Come Dancing elements to the show. However, she hasn’t been part of Strictly for eight years now, and with her other stage credits in between, I do wonder how much longer this association remains credible; and despite her enthusiasm, I did feel she struggled to come across to the audience.

Andy Day’s Andini (not Dandini – you can see what they did there) fared better with the hordes of kids who just adore him; he has an excellent role-swapping relationship with his Prince Charming and works through the Barrowful of Puns with Dave Bibby’s Buttons with entertaining aplomb. Mr Bibby is at his best when expressing his unrequited love for Cinderella and how upset he is at the fact that she loves him only as a brother. Gordon Cooper and Matt Daines’ wicked stepsisters are a gruesome twosome who unite vanity and cruelty in equal measure, and their prime victim, Marcavia McCarthy’s Cinderella, has a superb voice and is an excellent match for Marcellus Whyte’s Prince Charming.

But here’s the thing: something about this panto just doesn’t gel properly. Despite all its first-rate elements, it’s one of those occasions when its sum is less than its parts. I don’t think it was the funniest of scripts, at times it seems to move along rather slowly and lacks energy, and I fear some of the characterisations are rather bland. I don’t think I am alone; at the end of the show, when the cast galvanise everyone to get up on their feet and clap along with the final number, hardly anyone did. Nevertheless, there was plenty of enthusiasm from the kids in the audience throughout the show and I’m sure many families went home beaming from ear to ear. It just slightly missed the mark for me.

Three-sy Does It!

Review – Shrek the Musical, Royal and Derngate, Northampton, 23rd April 2024

Posted on April 24, 2024 by therealchrisparkle

Another casualty of the RAAC problems discovered at the theatre last year, Shrek the Musical finally lands at the Royal and Derngate, six months later than expected. Kudos to all involved for making it happen; the theatregoers of Northampton will not be deterred from seeing shows just because of some aerated concrete used forty years ago!

The Shrek story is one of continued success and popularity across the decades. The original 1990 children’s picture book became a smash hit film in 2001, with several sequels and spin-offs, as well as this stage musical which first hit Broadway in 2008, then conquered the world in the subsequent years.

The story’s appeal is obvious. Shrek the ogre is an anti-hero, set in his ways and reasonably content with his lot living in a filthy swamp. It’s what he was born to! But when the evil Lord Farquaad banishes all the fairy tale characters and they set up camp adjacent to Shrek’s swamp, he loses his cool. Befriended by a donkey, he heads off to Duloc, Farquaad’s fantasy palace, to sort it out with the big (little, actually) man. Farquaad promises him that if he rescues Princess Fiona from her tower, where she is guarded by a dragon, and brings her back to him so they can marry, he’ll move the characters away from his home and he can live in peace again. Farquaad is too cowardly to do it for himself of course. I’m sure you know all this already.

Like Sondheim’s Into the Woods, it takes the fairytale world which we all knew as children and brings it into a modern context. The characters we grew up loving are now refugees, exiled by a tyrannical leader and at the mercy of the elements. I don’t need to tell you how easy it is to relate this twist to the state of the world today. For this show to work, that subversion of everything we have always taken for granted ought to pull us up short and slap us in the face; whilst all still being conveyed as part of a light-hearted musical show aimed at kids, primarily designed to entertain. There’s no doubt, it’s a clever concept.

This current touring production has many strong aspects but also many aspects that detract. I’m going to accentuate the positive. Antony Lawrence is excellent as Shrek; gross and imposing at first, but we quickly warm to him as a caring character, and for a big chap he’s surprisingly nimble on his feet. On the subject of dancing, Joanne Clifton’s Princess Fiona makes the best of all her choreographic options and gives a lively performance, although a little too Violet Elizabeth Bott for my liking – you can just imagine her saying she’ll scream and scream until she’s sick. Talking of which, Nick Winston’s choreography for the show is outstanding, and the ensemble do an excellent job of filling the stage with superb dancing.

Brandon Lee Sears gives probably the best performance of the evening as the Donkey, cavorting himself into all sorts of asinine (literally) poses in a hilarious and endearing manner. Mind you, for me, the donkey was always the star of the film, and Eddie Murphy’s voicing of the part is one of the best cartoon interpretations ever. But Mr Sears more than meets that challenge. The scene between him and Mr Lawrence when the two characters finally reaffirm their friendship was genuinely affecting.

Cherece Richards, who plays the dragon standing at the front of a three-woman puppet operating team, has a powerful and charismatic voice. But here come two insuperable hurdles where this production fails. The sound quality is, frankly, awful. Especially in the group singing scenes, barely a word can be identified from the tinny and shouty noise bombarding you from the stage. Consequently it’s impossible to appreciate or assess the music and lyrics. There’s a scene towards the end of the second act where the fairytale characters decide to stage a coup against Farquaad which includes an argument between Pinocchio and the Gingerbread Man. I know this because I read the synopsis on Wikipedia. However, during the performance I had absolutely no idea any of this was occurring. The words were indecipherable!

And then there’s Lord Farquaad. In the film, he is a duplicitous, spoilt, evil figure; but hilariously funny, responsible for almost as many laughs as the Donkey. When I saw this show in 2018, Farquaad was played by Samuel Holmes, who co-directs this production, and he brightened up the stage every time he appeared. Sadly, for some reason, the role has been reimagined in this show. James Gillan’s performance has reduced the character to a mere prancing fop. There’s no sense of evil, or manipulation; and whilst you feel he is still meant to be a tiny chap (in so many ways), the production does not present him in that way. Few of his lines landed; and his despatch at the end by the angry dragon, which ought to be a moment of great cheering and celebration, was about as stunning as the arrival of a rail replacement bus. Hugely disappointing.

It’s a shame because the whole cast put a massive effort into the performance, but a lot of it goes to waste. Many of the characterisations that are meant to be funny – Farquaad, Pinocchio, Gingy – are just irritating. There were many children seated around us for the show and they were brimming with excitement and expectation at the beginning, but none of them bothered to get up for the I’m a Believer finale, which I think speaks volumes. If only they could tone the noise down and make the words clearer, it would be a much more entertaining show. I’m awarding this one more star than it strictly deserves simply because Brandon Lee Sears is so good. After its week in Northampton, the production moves on to Canterbury, and then spends six weeks at London’s Eventim Apollo in the summer.

Production photos by Marc Brenner

Three-sy Does It! (But only just)

Review – Cinderella, Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield, 4th January 2020

Posted on January 10, 2020 by therealchrisparkle

Having been spoilt with a fantastic Guys and Dolls in the afternoon, eight of us came out again in the evening to relive our childhood with our annual visit to the Sheffield panto – this year, Cinderella. There is nothing quite like the Sheffield panto to cast off your worries for a couple of hours – and let’s face it, the country’s facing more than enough troubles at the moment, so we really need a stressbuster! Legend (it says so in the programme so it must be true) Damian Williams has returned for his twelfth season (we’ve seen nine of them) and I wondered how well it would work with him as an Ugly Sister, sharing the stage with another fat bloke in a frock.

Answer: it worked like a dream, because his partner in crime, Matt Daines, isn’t a fat bloke in a frock at all. Whilst he (she) was also vile and grotesque, his Melania was a very different kettle of fish from Mr Williams’ Donaldina, and they played off each other beautifully, leaving Mr Williams to do more of the interaction with the audience and Mr Daines to do more of the plot progression (such as it is.) He truly came into his own in the Strictly Come Dancing scene as Twice Daly – a very funny but obviously affectionate parody of The Great Tess. And we also had a very vibrant Buttons, in the form of children’s tv presenter Phil Gallagher, terrific with the kids and the adults alike, and a beautiful and extremely talented Fairy in the form of Joanne Clifton, who gave a display of dancing that’s rarely been seen at the Sheffield panto. As a result, there was hardly a moment to catch your breath between each hilarious or exhilarating scene.

All the usual Lyceum Panto elements were there – the patter sketch, the Lyceum bench ghost singalong sketch, as well as some first-rate jokes – my favourite involved a photo taken in an Indian restaurant with the group REM, with the punchline: “that’s me in the korma”. There’s also a decent Baron Hardup (great work by Mark Faith), a proper “you can’t get your foot in the Crystal Palace” (I always miss it if that line’s not used) and a stunning aerial display act – Duo Fusion UK (Qdos take note, they were more magical and exciting than the aerial act in their highly expensive Goldilocks).

Evelyn Hoskins was superb as Cinderella, making the role slightly less wishy-washy than usual, a girl with gumption who could put her foot down if she wanted to. She had great duets with the gently self-effacing Prince Charming played by Oliver Watton, and Ben Thornton was a spirited Dandini, helping to keep everything moving along at the sharpest of paces.

Plus over-enthusiastic dancer Lewis who kept having to be reined in, and the hilarious creation of Mildred, the extremely confident 8 year old, who kept stopping the show with her feminist observations about the plot – terrifically performed on our night by Darcy Beech (I think) of the Blue Team. And the poor chap in the third row who was nominated as Most Handsome Man in the Audience and had to wear a T-shirt bearing that same epithet for the rest of the evening. All enhanced by the fantastic musical support from the side boxes led by wildman James Harrison.

But as always, the evening belonged to Damian Williams, whose energy, irreverence, and willingness to make himself look as ridiculous as possible makes the Sheffield panto what it is. Already booked for Sleeping Beauty next year!