It's been 25 years since 'Faulty Towers The Dining Experience' first hit the stage.
From Interactive Theatre International, it's a loving homage to the smash BBC TV series ‘Fawlty Towers’, written by John Cleese and Connie Booth – a faithful production serving up dinner and a show for Adelaide Fringe audiences for the 15th year.
With a quarter of a century's worth of performances under its belt, 'The Dining Experience' is the world's longest-running and most successful 'Fawlty' tribute show.
Here, we let Jack Newell (Basil), Nicholas Richard (Manuel) and Monique Lewis (Sybil) interview each other about the show, backstage at their Sydney Opera House season. . . Before they head to Adelaide. They talk all things 'Faulty', including highlights of playing their roles, returning to Adelaide, and memories from the show over the years.
JN – Nick. What is your favourite thing about playing Manuel live in front of an audience?
NR – He is so loveably forgivable in his incompetence. It is just such a joy to be forgiven for almost anything, I mean not anything, but I'm able to get away with so much of just being incompetent and being stupid and people adore you for it because he’s trying so hard.
JN – Is that easy for you to play stupid?
NR – (Laughs) Huh? What? I don’t get it. Um, no.
JN – So it takes effort? You actually try to play stupid?
NR – It does take effort! I have to try to be stupid.
JN – What!
NR – Because people sometimes will hit you with some really clever comments, and something that I would love to respond to as Nicholas, but instead I have to respond as Manuel and it’s hard, and he dies a little bit inside when he’s not able to engage in some really clever wordplay. So I actually have to. . . Look I just, I just, (sigh), I must say, you’re an inspiration Jack.
JN – Thank you, thank you, I get that a lot.
NR – For when I have to act stupid.
ML – Nicholas. Now that we’re in the world of COVID, how much do you enjoy playing Manuel, and changing things in a physical way, in comparison to what we would call pre-COVID?
NR – This is good, this is a great question! We had to adapt, all of us, in many ways, and one of the things that I had to really start relying on was a lot of communicating, like Manuel actually learning more language and getting more confused because a lot of the physicality, or at least the prop gags, like moving people's plates around, and getting their waters, and even serving them drinks and stuff, had to be completely abolished. It was terrifying at first because I was able to rely so heavily on physicality to sell the character but now I had to actually use a lot more language. It was a challenge at first but I really love how much it's given me, in terms of arming me with different Manuel stuff to use, now I have a nice little repertoire of things I can fall back on at times. So I can be quite physical with Manuel and I can be quite linguistic. It was really tough at first, and I reckon its become a really valuable challenge.
JN – Alright, so Monique. Back onto you now Mon, so what's something about the Sybil character that you learnt through her, that you incorporate into your own life after playing Sybil for, what is it, 15 years now?
NR – 50, at least.
ML – I would say, I've become a professional berater of my husband. Because I'm so well-practised, it’s a natural thing to do! No. In all seriousness, if you’d like a nice, honest answer, fluffy answer, I would probably say, constantly just being able to be optimistic and see a lighter side in all scenarios. Playing Sybil, because you’re dealing with Basil causing so much anxiety and disturbing guests so much, and because Sybil is always trying to manage that, and make things better, I guess that makes you have a much lighter, slightly more sunshine outlook on life.
NR – Mon. My question for you is, is there a significant moment that you’d like to share, that you’ve experienced as Sybil? It could be like a really heartfelt moment, something very meaningful where you’ve absolutely made someone's night because it was a very special moment, or something very funny that happened, or just a pivotal moment. What's something that really stands out for you, that you’d like to share?
ML – Well, I've got a little gold nugget, that happened at Adelaide Fringe last year, where we had a couple that had come to see the show before, and the husband had bought the ticket and been part of our special Valentine's Day 'love shout-out'. The whole idea was that if you contacted the company, during one of my special moments during the show, I would give a mention of the person that you love. So this gentleman had asked about this for his wife. As we were going along and finding out a little bit about them (in the show), she was so put on the spot that she panicked, because she said 'oh my God, this is so romantic, my husband's NEVER done anything like this for me before in 20 years of marriage', and she was quite emotional and overwhelmed. We were all, the whole room, really invested in this moment, and then totally out of the blue, shes got tears in her eyes, this is a really lovely moment between the two of them, and Sybil is gushing over them, she turns to him and goes “oh my God, are you having an affair!?!”
ML – Which I'm sure you both remember, and the whole room erupted, and it's very hard to stay in character because I never expected they were going to say that. And it was beautiful, and you could never script a moment like that, it was just absolute GOLD. So that definitely in six years, is my favourite improv moment.
JN – Just because a man does something for his lady doesn’t mean he's done something wrong alright!
ML – Jack. What's it like performing, back in Adelaide, in your home town, knowing full well, that your mother and her entourage are going to come to multiple shows to watch you perform?
JN – Well I don’t know when she's going to be there, and when she's not going to be there, so it's kind of scary. It's noticeable when there's someone in the audience that you know and when there isn’t, it's not good or bad, it's just different. Because they know who you are without the moustache on, or for you guys, without the wig, I'm assuming that’s a wig for you Mon. The difference between Adelaide audiences and Sydney audiences is I think, Adelaide audiences are a bit more interactive, a bit more up for a good time.
ML – You might put a whole lot of Sydney-siders off. They might read this article while researching to come and see a show at Adelaide Fringe.
NR – You also have to think about it, it’s a fringe audience, a festival audience.
JN – Yeah, I think festival audiences are more up for being picked on, because, me as Basil can go up to them and just tell them to shut up and they laugh.
NR – So is it Fringe audiences rather than Adelaide audiences?
JN – Yeah, I guess.
NR – Finally, one last question, is it too much to ask, for you to just be better?
JN – No it's not, I'm always looking to improve as an actor and an artist, always room for improvement.
‘Faulty Towers The Dining Experience’ plays Botanical Room at The Terrace Hotel (Adelaide Fringe) 18 February-13 March.
