Banff hotel will welcome Faulty Towers: The Dining Experience
Fans of legendary BBC sitcom Fawlty Towers are in for a treat this autumn as a dining experience show comes to a hotel.
Basil, Sybil and Manuel will bring culinary mayhem and laughs galore when Faulty Towers: The Dining Experience is performed at Banff’s Fife Lodge Hotel on Saturday, November 9.
It was August 2008 that saw the smash-hit production, all the way from Australia, enjoy its UK premiere at the Edinburgh Fringe.
An instant hit, suddenly three much loved, iconic sitcom characters were back, live on stage (well, in a restaurant) creating laugh out loud mayhem.
Now, after more than a decade on the Fringe, the production from Interactive Theatre International (ITI), which premiered in Australia 27 years ago, is set to embark on its first Scotland tour.
A loving tribute to the 70s BBC series, dinner and theatre collide like never before.
People can take their seats at the tables in the “Faulty Towers” restaurant and prepare for a service like no other, delivered by Basil, Sybil and Manuel themselves.
As the starters are unceremoniously plonked before diners the chaos begins.
With an original script woven through a three-course meal, watch as the terrifying Sybil rules the roost, as Basil loses it and as Manuel finds he cannot do right for doing wrong.
With a nod and a wink to all the favourite moments from the classic sitcom, Faulty Towers: The Dining Experience is a side-splitting evening of food and laughter, and just a bit of audience participation.
Jared Harford, executive producer at ITI, said: “With all the data we’ve gathered from the Fringe over the years, we know that people come from all over Scotland to see us. Now it’s our turn to come to them.
“In 2019, we did our ‘massive’ Fringe. We had 16 different shows at our venue. It was amazing, something I’d always wanted to do.
“We were planning to do the same in 2020. We had put down a £40,000 deposit on the venue and then the pandemic hit. We lost everything.”
Although The Dining Experience returned to Fringe in 2023, ITI soon discovered the landscape had changed and it was time to venture further afield, hence their Scotland tour, which brings not one but two Basils north of the border.
Jared added: “We have two Basils coming to Scotland for the tour. Jack Baldwin, our associate artistic director who looks after all the shows in the UK will share the role with Dave Tremaine, who has been with us for eight years now.”
Visit https://www.interactivetheatre.com.au/scotland-tour/ for tickets to the Banff performance.
