February 2, 2024 – 5:10 AM PST
LONDON (Reuters) – Classic 1970s comedy show “Fawlty Towers” is hitting the London stage in May in a new theatrical adaptation, nearly 50 years after the original television series first aired.
“Fawlty Towers The Play” has been adapted for the stage by series writer and actor John Cleese, who played Basil Fawlty, the inhospitable owner of a chaotic fictional hotel in the southern English seaside resort town of Torquay.
Cleese said he had adapted three of his favourite episodes for the play and written “one huge finale, which will bring together the endings of all three episodes”.
“What a thrill to be bringing Fawlty Towers to the West End for the first time – nearly 50 years since the show was first recorded, in December 1974,” he said in a statement on the play’s website.
“We’ve been involved in the casting process for some time, being constantly reminded of what a wealth of acting talent we have in Britain – sorting the very, very, very good from the merely very, very good.”
“Fawlty Towers”, written by Cleese and Connie Booth, ran for 12 episodes in 1975 and 1979.
Actor Adam Jackson-Smith will play Basil while Anna-Jane Casey will take on the role of his bossy wife, Sybil.
The play, directed by Caroline Jay Ranger, will run at the Apollo Theatre on London’s central Shaftesbury Avenue from May 4.
“I do hope some of you will come to the Apollo to laugh together. And laugh. And laugh……,” Cleese said.
Reporting by Marie-Louise Gumuchian, Editing by William Maclean
