Fawlty Towers At Leeds Grand Theatre Review
DISCLOSURE – TICKETS TO SEE THE SHOW WERE GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER AND GUEST FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW
Reviewed by Jenny Bray
January is normally a time for me to spend time recovering from the festive period and hibernating from the cold. However, tonight was spent venturing to see this show in Leeds.
I enjoyed watching the Fawlty Towers series when I was younger so thought I’d see what the stage version was like. It has been produced by John Cleese (who was the original Basil Fawlty) and Connie Booth (who played the original Polly). The show is based around the storylines in three of the twelve original television shows. It’s odd to think about how popular the original television series was and yet it only consisted of twelve half hour shows across one series, so 6 hours in total! This show runs for around two hours in total and the first ‘half’ before the interval is an hour, which seemed to go quickly. It meant the second ‘half’ was a lot shorter, which worked well.
Before the show even started I was impressed by the stage setting. The setting was there in sight, with no curtain going up to reveal it, so I was able to study it before the show started. It remained the same throughout the whole show and that worked really well because of just how much it had managed to incorporate. There was the reception area and dining room on the main stage, with the stairs between them acting as the divider, then there was a second level with a bedroom on. There was still the famous sign to the hotel and also background of other buildings. The reception area had a lot of detail, including a desk area and cubby holes for each room. It worked really well for every scene.
The main characters sounded and acted as they had in the television series, including Sybil’s (Mia Austen) laugh and demeaning attitude to Basil (Danny Bayne) with his clumsy behaviour and odd mannerisms and Manuel’s (Hemi Yeroham) actions and constant ‘Spanglish’. The supporting characters made the right scenes have the right level of chaos to them!
The costumes were akin to those used in the television series, including Sybil’s frilly blouse with her skirt suit and Basil’s cardigan. Manuel sports his white shirt and black bow tie and Polly a blue dress with an apron and a large white bow on the front.
Leeds Grand Theatre is in central Leeds, with plenty of parking nearby, although you need to pay attention to road restrictions due to bus lanes up until 7pm if heading to Templar Street car park. The theatre has four levels of seating and all have a good view of the stage.
I found some of the content to be a little dated as it was still 1970s humour, but found most of it to still be amusing. I’m still undecided how I feel about the show being based on three of the television shows rather than being a new story. On the one hand it made it very familiar but on the other I felt a little cheated that it wasn’t new material. I also probably wouldn’t have included the episode where ‘the Germans’ are coming and you mustn’t mention the war, especially to the level of detail covered. I’d like to think that we’ve moved on from that somewhat now. However, I enjoyed the rest of it and reminisced about times when I first watched it, many years ago!
Manuel still ‘knows nothing’ at all the wrong times after all these years! It was definitely a good source of entertainment on a cold and wet evening.
Rating: 4/5
Tickets cost from £36 to £71
Fawlty Towers is on at the Leeds Grand between 6th and 10th January 2026.
For more information or to book tickets visit;
https://leedsheritagetheatres.com/whats-on/fawlty-towers-2026/#book
or call the Box Office on 0113 2430808
Leeds Grand Theatre box office; 46 New Briggate, Leeds, LS1 6NU