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Fawlty Towers, Apollo Theatre, London, until 28 September

Fawlty Towers, Apollo Theatre, London, until 28 September

John Cleese’s three favourite episodes are mashed together – the hotel inspectors, the deaf guest and of course the Germans and the war. Adam Jackson-Smith adds intensity and pain to the exasperated spirit of Fawlty and Anna-Jane Casey is note-perfect as Sybil. The magic mostly remains, and Manuel is given a touch of much-needed dignity, but the Germans’ storyline is fraught. The intentions of a much younger Cleese and co-writer Connie Booth are clear – lampooning small minded, self-important Little Englanders with Fawlty proudly proclaiming that he voted against the Common Market. Jackson-Smith’s Hitler walk is painful – but the skit is so embedded in triumphalist anti-German comedy that it gets a cheer, even as the young German woman weeps to watch this take on the madman who murdered a generation. Much could be learned from this slice of national obsession, and with luck it will.


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