Review – Faulty Towers: The Dining Experience

Faulty Towers: The Dining Experience is a unique experience. The three cast members, playing Basil, Manuel and Sybil, endeavour to give their guests the experience of actually dining in the faulty towers restaurant. Whilst not actually following any real script from the show, the players act out what you might call ‘fan fiction’, faithfully following the usual scenarios from the much-loved television program without actually re-enacting something we’ve seen before.

Manuel’s poor English skills, Sybil’s bossiness and Basil’s sarcasm form the basis of most of the gags. The three characters also circulate through the restaurant, giving every single guest a little personal attention, which is nice. Manuel is especially brilliant at this. There are also several bad service gags, which actually involve bad service.

The show is certainly not for people who don’t enjoy being berated or having their personal space invaded. Basil insults everyone personally, and Manuel force-fed my date a spoonful of spring onions.

I enjoyed the show a lot, and I think all fans of the television program will. The cast, and indeed the restaurant staff do everything they can to make you feel like you’re really dining at the Faulty Towers restaurant. My only complaint would be that the food was mediocre (the chicken breast was a little dry) but I guess that only makes the experience a bit more genuine.