Review: Faulty Towers - The Dining Experience

Fathers are meant to be easy to shop for. One look at RTE around fathers day and all you see is ads where children run to their dad, jump on his lap and give him a tub of ‘Just For Men’, while he basks in their love. Of course he knows that the children didn’t buy it, so it must of came from their mother who is now pretty much saying ‘Look younger or ill cheat with the Sky+ sales man’, but that is neither here nor there. My father however is not easy to buy for. He doesn’t wear ties, watch DVDs, play CDs and is perfectly at home with his snowy white hair. There was even a very awkward Fathers Day where he had to fake joy upon receiving a portable car battery re-starter. So when September crawled about it was met with the annual birthday task of asking ‘What do you buy the man who wants nothing?’ when seemingly the perfect gift fell in my lap. A gift so perfect that it would marry his love of watching UK Gold every night with his human need to eat. Yes, ‘Faulty Towers - The Dining Experience’ was coming to town.

‘Faulty Towers - T.D.E’ (as I’m calling it now, out of sheer laziness) is a weird mix of doing exactly what is says on the tin and being really odd indeed. It falls under the genre of ‘Interactive / Dinner Theater’ and has been a huge hit in its home of Australia. It features a trio of actors taking the guise of Basil, Sybil and Manual and promises a pitch perfect ‘13th’ episode of the series (apart from spelling it ‘Fawlty’ presumably to get around a few copyright issues) featuring classic sketches and also top class cuisine. Which all sounded a rather lovely way to spend a birthday evening.

It all kicks off where Basil is waiting at the entrance to the dining hall, before jumping out at you demanding that you leave before Cybil puts him in his place and you are invited to take your place. The evening then shapes around the three courses, with the sketches built around the starter and main course. While the sketches are well rehearsed and genuine silly fun, its the off hand put downs from Basil that really stand out, showing a sharp thinking on your feet wit that would even give Dara O’Brien a run for his money. So while Basil is top form, the nights biggest annoyance comes in the form the constant ‘I learned it from a book’ Manual lost in translation gags. While at first the sight of a man rolling on a piece of beard (Basil said bread roll you see..) got a slight giggle but by the time he started bumping his head off guests because some said ‘Butter’ , you will tempted to have a bathroom break. Which I did, of course then bringing on the full fury of a Basil attack, which is very hard not to laugh at. At this point I probably should mention the food, but seeing as it will be a different menu at each venue and for the reason that I have a taste pallet of a 12 year old boy who cries because his aunt has hidden peas in his mash potato, I might leave that part to the professionals (though my chicken bacon-y thing was very tasty indeed).

When leaving the restaurant, though it was the idea of ‘Interactive / Dinner Theater’ that would not leave me. I want to see more dinner themed TV show events, only lets go more extreme to get the young crowd in. If you have the power to get these made, consider these my pitch meeting:

Deal or No Deal : Twenty people are brought into a restaurant after being starved for 24 hours and in put front of a box. Each box showing a picture of their favorite food. Of course the twist here is that only one of the boxes actuslly any food in it. Just as the lucky so and so is about to tuck into his bacon and Cajun pizza, Noel Edmonds jumps out, hands him the red phone where an orphan from a war torn village asks for the food in exchange for a letter a month saying how well he is he doing, to which Noel looking extra smug asks you ‘Deal or No Deal?’. Though why any person would pay for this is any ones guess.

Lost : The Viewing Experience : A dinner that combines a beautiful 6 six course meal with all the joy of being a fan of lost. This is simply while inside the restaurant , the fan is treated to a meal that while sure some of courses may test them, its impossible not to finish, with an all round tear inducing dessert. However upon leaving the restaurant, actors who either left after the third course or who never actually tasted anything follow you all the way home, shouting in your ear things like ‘Thank god that meal is over, what a waste of time’ and ‘Ohh I knew the chef was just making up those courses as he went along’ thus completely ruining your enjoyment of the meal because by the time you get home your voice is gone from defending the best meal you’ve had in the last ten years.

and

The Krypton Factor : Landing a plane with one hand while digging into a sausage box with the other. Sausage + Planes = Awesome

In the mean time though, ‘Faulty Towers - TDE’ is your best chance at ‘Interactive / Dinner Theater’, while not perfect is something a little bit different, that fans will enjoy guessing what sketch is coming next and the genuinely brilliant comic timing of one of the greatest comedy characters ever around.

Dates for the Tour can be found here
http://www.junctionfestival.com/ten42/fawlty-towers-the-dining-experience.php