Fawlty Towers - The Play has enjoyed substantial success on its extensive UK tour. It is currently at the Woking Theatre (renamed from the New Victoria) for one week, and at its core, it is a nostalgia-fuelled experience that is virtually relived by the audience I joined, some of whom appeared to know every line. This stage version is celebrating one of Britain’s legendary sitcoms. Basil’s chaotic hotel still has the power to charm and bring people together.
Clever Interweaving of Classic Episodes
What we have is a clever interweaving of three classic episodes that let us see every exasperated moment live, unmediated by camera angles, in a faithfully recreated setting. I expected waves of laughter, and we got them, but the audience's attention was also thoughtful and at times subdued - it was as though everyone present (and the numbers were substantial) didn’t want to miss a moment.
Loud guffaws occurred along the way with regular ripples of laughter as situations developed, but when the final bows came, there was a surge of enthusiastic applause. Some stood. It was clear the 16-strong cast loved the response. Collectively, they had recreated memories for a delighted - if mature - public with success, skill and a dash of flair. Showing until Saturday, May 30.
Barnum Brings Big Laughs and Circus Flair to Woking
Barnum the Circus Musical rolled into Woking last week with a flamboyant swagger that was brashly excessive. The storyline follows the ambitious American showman P. T. Barnum, his bravado, his dubious marketing skills, his infidelity, but in essence the storyline is thin. This show majors on circus exuberance, lending itself to an immersive razzmatazz with little emotional involvement.
However, Lee Mead, as P. T. Barnum, made an engaging leading man, possessing an easy warmth and an instinctive rapport with the audience. He inhabited the larger-than-life showman with confidence, steering proceedings with enough charisma to prevent the evening collapsing into mere spectacle. Around him, the large ensemble of actor-musicians and circus folk work tirelessly with acrobatics, trapeze skills, juggling, fire-eating and moments of sheer theatrical daring - delivered with breath-taking flair.
Emotional Stakes Remain Elusive
Circus folk tumble onto the stage, but although we get to meet Barnum, we don’t really get to know the man behind his celebrated ‘humbug’ (his exaggerations, his lies, his ambition), and so when the knock-backs come, we observe them but do not feel them. I suspect part of this is because the emotional stakes never fully deepen with a storyline darting from one colourful moment to another. We acknowledge the strains on his marriage, but does this really register? I didn’t think so - we didn’t learn much about his wife Charity: she’s loyal; she’s lovely; she’s who?
Ironically, one aspect about the production that initially troubled me actually develops as part of its identity. At times the sound is loud, insistent and distorted, the dialogue and lyrics occasionally swallowed by the sheer volume on offer, yet rather than diminishing the experience, it oddly contributed to an electrifying atmosphere. Around me, the audience seemed energised rather than puzzled, embracing the raucousness as part of the event itself. Still, what was done was done wonderfully. If the emotional resonance proved elusive, the theatrical ambition most certainly wasn’t!
The Barnum Musical may not ‘move’ its audience, but it knows precisely how to thrill it, and judging by the cheering at the end, that may be exactly the point.
A Beautiful Thread: A Haunting Homage to Thomas Hardy
In a direct contrast, actor Anton Lesser was in Guildford last week on a brief visit with Lucia Bonbright with their production, A Beautiful Thread - a haunting homage to Thomas Hardy and the vanishing memories of an old West Country world. In the company of the nine-strong Orchestra Of The Swan, we were offered an evocation of Hardy in which the music, the rhythms, the story-telling of Wessex landscapes seemed to drift in and envelop us. Lesser, with his unmistakable voice and quiet authority, inhabited the writer rather than merely reading him, and with Lucia Bonbright they jointly conjured Hardy’s melancholy, his humour and understanding of human nature - interspersed were haunting musical echoes that seemed to hover tantalisingly overhead. It served as a kindly reminder that what is neglected can be eventually forgotten.
