Fawlty Towers – The Play
Sunderland Empire – 3rd February 2026
Invited| Review by Stephen Stokoe
It is always a pleasure to attend the Sunderland Empire but especially so this week as it was bustling with customers eager for a pick-me-up from the winter weather for the classic Fawlty Towers – The Play. Based on the BBC comedy, this play incorporates three of the classic episodes featuring all the much loved characters with nods and winks to other classic moments of the show which surprisingly only ran for twelve episodes.
Centre of all the crazy goings on at the infamous Torquay hotel is owner and manager Basil Fawlty played with stunning accuracy by Danny Bayne. It cannot have been an easy task to take on the role of such a well known and much loved character as the irascible and snobbish Basil and one can only bow to his skill in recreating the voice, mannerisms and sheer physical skill of the immensely gifted John Cleese. Bayne’s timing and presence is felt throughout the production and he seems to have the spirit of Cleese flowing through him during the performance.
Playing his long suffering and in-grown toe-nail afflicted wife is Mia Austen as Sybil. She also embodies the character made famous by the recently departed Prunella Scales. Connie Booth, who co-wrote the original series and played the role of artist cum maid/waitress Polly is also very accurately portrayed by the supremely talented Joanne Clifton who I have seen on stage many times in the north east. It is good to see her back.
A central character in the series is the Major who is often used as a foil for Mr Fawlty’s mishaps and schemes was played this evening by Neil Steward standing in for Paul Nicholas. The bumbling former soldier showed no sign of ageing as his nonsensical ramblings tormented the already frazzled Basil.
If Bayne had some very sizeable footwear to slide into to portray Basil then the task was probably just as daunting for Hemi Yeroham who plays the role of the permanently bewildered and put-upon Manuel. You could easily be forgiven for thinking, impossible as it is, that Andrew Sachs was standing upon that stage taking verbal and physical abuse from Bayne’s looming Basil.
Fawlty Towers would not be complete with the two loveable but scatty old ladies who were played with loving reverence and accuracy by Emily Winter and Dawn Buckland. Without mentioning a certain global conflict of the mid-1900s, we also had Germans visiting the south coast hotel including a name which I have not seen since the days of my youth. John Hasler who entertained me for many years as T-Shirt in a long running children’s programme delighted as a confused but generally affable German guest and as Mr Thurston.
If you are going to recreate something as iconic as Fawlty Towers then it has to look right. As soon as you enter the auditorium, the set (Liz Ashcroft) is as familiar as it is comforting with the lobby, dining room and a bedroom all visible. The costume design also as to be right and Ms Ashcroft put her fastidious attention to great use for these too.
Directed brilliantly by Caroline Jay Ranger, this is a lovingly and sensitively handled production with ever so slight tweaks to bring the script up to date and allowing for modern sensibilities but not so much that it jars or feels that any of the original brilliance is lost. It is a superb night of high quality entertainment which certainly warms the cockles on a chilly winter’s night. The age range of the audience last evening was surprisingly wide with youngsters being, perhaps, introduced to the madcap humour of their parents’ days. It is vintage and genius humour which transcends era and defines situational and physical comedy at its very best.
There is a moose, there are multiple wired telephones, there is a domineering and deaf old bat. Everything you want from a couple of hours on the South Coast – just don’t mention the war!