Review: Faulty Towers - The Dining Experience (London)

This immersive dining experience, set in the infamous Torquay hotel, perfectly captures the charm of the classic sitcom and delivers an evening of laughter that may leave your sides aching.

Photo: Rosie Powell

Faulty Towers - The Dining Experience, which runs out of the President Hotel near Russell Square, is an interactive dinner show based on the classic seventies TV series. While the experience has been running in London since 2009, its origins date back to 1997 when its creators, Alison Pollard-Mansergh and Andrew Foreman, first staged the show in Brisbane, Australia.

While the dining experience isn't an officially licensed adaptation of the original series (something that Cleese was pretty vocal about back in 2016), all of the show's main elements have been carried over. Hotel owner Basil is still exceptionally short-tempered and neurotic; his wife, Sybil, continues to be the dominant one in the relationship, bossing her husband around while tolerating his increasingly erratic behaviour, and Manuel, the hotel's recently hired Spanish waiter, consistently misinterprets every instruction given to him.

Photo: Rosie Powell

Before guests even take their seats, the trio of performers greets them in the President Hotel's lobby bar. With Manuel quickly misconstruing Basil's request to 'collect the glasses' and 'serve the nuts,' things get off to a chaotic start with guests having to redistribute their eyewear once retrieved and dodge projectiles. While true to form, Basil shows a healthy amount of contempt for the riff-raff gracing his hotel for the evening; several groups - all referred to as 'Lords' - get the proverbial red carpet rolled out for them as they're called to their tables in the dining area. The less said about his view on vegetarians, the better..

Once seated at shared tables (which sit up to 10 people), guests are treated to a rapid-fire barrage of comedic moments inspired by the series, alongside improvised interactions with the cast, who all constantly move around the room. Those unfortunate enough to be in the proximity of Manuel (Jacob Tanner) can expect to have bread rolls lobbed their way, be lumped with a pile of soup bowls collected from the surrounding tables, or be coerced into charging at him while holding a pair of forks above your head as he reminisces on how he wanted to be a bullfighter as a child.

Photo: Rosie Powell

For Basil (Stanley Eldridge), it appears that every moment of the evening pushes them closer and closer to a nervous breakdown. Whether he's diving behind tables to avoid another telling off from his wife or trying to sneakily place a bet on the horses, it's clear that he's a man who's often pushed to the absolute brink, and watching him teeter on the edge of madness is a consistent delight. While Manuel and Basil handle the majority of the evening's comedic moments, Sybil (Nerine Skinner) remains a constant presence, lamenting her life choices and acting as the straight man as Basil and Manuel engage in slapstick-heavy fights.

Across the trio, their mannerisms are a near-perfect match to the characters portrayed by John Cleese, Prunella Scales, and Andrew Sachs in the original TV series, channelling all of the characters' idiosyncrasies wonderfully. While they're by no means small shoes to fill, the experience's cast is more than up to the job, so much so that one of the guests at our table leant over at one point and whispered that they outshone their West End counterparts, which is high praise, considering the Apollo Theatre production had Cleese's direct involvement.

Photo: Rosie Powell

A dining experience isn't complete without the food, which comes by way of a 1970's-inspired three-course meal overseen by the President Hotel's recently appointed Head Chef, Jonathan Bradley. With tomato soup with basil oil for a starter; roast chicken with gravy, baby carrots, and Dauphinoise potato for the main (the vegetarian option is a sweet potato and courgette timbale); and lemon and berry cheesecake for dessert, the menu isn't anything revolutionary, but considering that it's largely remained unchanged since it launched in the UK, the quality is a step above what one might expect to be served at an understaffed Torquay hotel.

Photo: Faulty Towers - The Dining Experience

For long-time fans of the original series, Faulty Towers - The Dining Experience is sure to delight. Packed full of jokes, callbacks, and spot-on impressions, it's a nostalgic and hilarious evening of entertainment that perfectly recreates the chaos and farce of John Cleese's iconic comedy in the flesh. Just don't try asking for a Waldorf salad or a second bread roll...

★★★★

[Tickets gifted in exchange for an honest review]

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Faulty Towers - The Dining Experience runs at the President Hotel near Russell Square. Tickets are priced from £65.00 per person and include a three-course meal. For more information and to book tickets, visit faultytowersdining.com