On tour from London’s West End, Faulty Towers The Dining Experience has arrived in Birmingham.
It is a show which allows you to step inside the iconic TV series and become part of the action itself.
When the audience become diners in the ‘Faulty Towers’ restaurant, pretty much anything can happen – because 70% of the show is improvised.
The fun starts as guests wait to be seated. It then hurtles along in a two-hour tour de force of gags and shambolic service as Basil, Sybil and Manuel serve a ‘70s-style (but delicious) three-course meal together with a good dollop of mayhem at the Banqueting Suite at Birmingham’s Council House, a beautiful Grade II-listed venue in the heart of the city centre.
Faulty Towers the Dining Experience is now the longest running immersive production in the UK.
Devised by Alison Pollard-Mansergh, Andrew Foreman and others, the show has been touring the UK and internationally since 2008, having appeared in 43 countries to date and over 1000 venues, with approximately 400 shows per year on average across the UK. And it’d easy to see why.
Invited to become a guest at the table during the first few days of its local run, I arrived with an open mind. Would this dining experience leave me fully satisfied or would I have had a belly full by the end? I’m delighted to concede it was the former and would not hesitate to recommend for a night out with friends or family. It seemed a particular popular choice as a birthday celebration on the night I was there. Nothing better than immersive experience such as this to break the ice and guarantee a fun night.
Avoiding spoilers, I would just say, go with a group of people who are game for a laugh (not one for the shrinking violets in your friendship circle) and prepare to become part of the mayhem.
For Fawlty Towers fans, this is the opportunity to enjoy an evening encapsulating the most iconic scenes and comedy from all 12 episodes of the show, from drunken chef and an escapee rat (don’t worry – not a real one!) through to bungled fire drills and Basil’s famous goosestep.
Expect the unexpected from this very talented trio who brilliantly capture their characters’ mannerisms in a madcap evening of – often physical – comedy you’ll remember for a long time.
Faulty Towers The Dining Experience is in Birmingham until November 3rd and tickets are available HERE.
