Back in 1970, a famous entertainer had an interesting experience in a Torquay Hotel run by its eccentric owner, Donald Sinclair. This gave him an idea and working with his wife at the time, they came up with an idea for a television series based around a dysfunctional hotel on the English Riviera. The series was a huge hit and even today, people can quote virtually entire episodes to each other – though that may just be me and my friends. The show was, of course, Fawlty Towers and since it was first aired, it has become a true comedy legend. Why am I telling you all this, you may wonder? Because last night Lynne and I went to the President Hotel near Russell Square for an evening loosely based on this TV show. So, join us as we go into Faulty Towers The Dining Experience.
The experience – and believe me it is one – starts when you first arrive in the bar and are joined by Basil, the owner, his wife Sybil and their rather hapless, Spanish waiter Manuel who immediately start the theoretically easy but in Basil’s hands very complicated process of sitting you in the dining room. Now, it’s really difficult to go on with the description of the night for two reasons. First, this is a very interactive show with lots of twists and turns, not to mention surprises, along the way. Secondly, because there is a fourth member of the cast who is different at every single performance. And that is the audience/diners. Whilst there is a central script running through the show, there is a large amount of ad-libbing going on as the actors respond to and interact with the audience. So, I can only tell you about my experience, which included having to stop Lynne chatting with Sybil, who was using my seat. Getting way, way too close to a rat – alive or dead, I wasn’t happy. And joining Basil in not-so-silently judging vegetarians. Not forgetting Sybil hitting a note so high during a song that left us wondering if the glass in the windows was about to crack.
What I can say is that not only do you get a really nice three course meal – remember to ask for an extra roll with your soup, Basil loves that when you do – but you get a solid two hours of laugh out loud entertainment which, while not being written by JC or CB, is a testament of love to their work and the characters they created.
The three actors are the epitome of Basil, Sybil, and Manuel. In appearance, vocal inflection, and mannerisms, it is like having the original Fawlty Towers cast presiding over your dinner in a manic and very comic style.
Honestly, there is nothing about the night I would have changed. Everything about Faulty Towers The Dining Experience just works. This is pure immersive dinner theatre in its finest form. The show was created by Australian writer Alison Pollard-Mansergh in 1997 and has been performed worldwide in 43 countries. It’s been in London since 2012 and has been in its present home since 2022. There’s something quite comforting in knowing that in various places around the world, diners are sitting down ready to enjoy some comedy that many consider to be quintessentially English.
Summing up then, whilst I can’t give you much detail about Faulty Towers The Dining Experience, I can promise that if you go along, you will have a good meal and an experience that is as hilariously entertaining as it is unique, and you can’t say fairer than that.
Review by Terry Eastham
Faulty Towers The Dining Experience is a loving tribute to Fawlty Towers. Faulty Towers The Dining Experience uses scripts and a dining experience format devised by Imagination Workshop Pty Limited and is not endorsed in any way by John Cleese or Connie Booth.
Audiences can enjoy a quintessentially British experience as Basil, Sybil and Manuel serve up theatre and chaos alongside a 70s-style 3-course meal at the President Hotel, right in the heart of Bloomsbury, London, where the trio have spent over a decade setting West End records for longest running immersive experience, longest running show based on a TV series, and the longest running Fawlty Towers show of any kind worldwide!
FAULTY TOWERS THE DINING EXPERIENCE
President Hotel, 56-60 Guilford Street, London WC1N 1DB
Booking until 21 December 2025
