More of the bumbling Brits
GREAT fun, quirky and laden with classic-comedy nostalgia that had an ample and appreciative audience at Durban’s Rhumbelow Theatre lapping it up when it premiered there in April, Tarty Flowers is an unpretentious and giddy hodge-podge of a show.
And the good news is that you can again catch this salute to the hit British TV series Fawlty Towers, as it will be presented as supper theatre at Michaelhouse’s Centenary Centre at 7pm today and at the same time on Saturday.
Also, this delightful show is lined up for a return season at Umbilo’s Rhumbelow Theatre from October 28 to 30, and again from November 4 to 6.
Tarty Flowers is a colourful collection of scenes and characters from the wonderful Fawlty Towers, performed with relish and verve, and lots of tongue in cheek, by Mark Mulder and Annie Robinson.
Devised and directed by Paul Spence, Tarty Flowers has Mulder and Robinson sometimes mingling among their supper theatre audience, chatting to them and passing comments about them as though they were in the dining room of Fawlty Towers, the dysfunctional, fictional hotel in the seaside town of Torquay, on the “English Riviera”.
The two performers spend most of their time, however, fussing around their own round table on stage.
It is filled with wigs and various clothing items that allow them to morph into the scenes and familiar characters from the hit 1970s series that the British Film Institute named in 2000 as the best British television series of all time.
It starred John Cleese as rude, ever-anxious, bullied and bullying snob Basil Fawlty, manager of the hotel, and Prunella Scales as his demanding wife, Sybil, with a laugh from hell.
Mulder and Robinson do them justice, but are also very entertaining switching, often at a moment’s notice, to portray other characters.
In one instance the two share a handbag and hat to play a half-deaf, grumpy hotel guest who refuses to turn on her hearing aid because she wants to save on batteries.
Robinson also does very well as flustered Spanish waiter Manuel, donning black wig and an ever-slipping moustache to play the putupon chap whose command of the English language leaves much to be desired. She is also a hoot with a faulty French accent as a flirty hotel guest keen to bed a bashful Basil.
The famous “don’t mention the war” scene is revisited, and among other amusing moments from the series are scenes relating to Basil’s being bandaged after the fall of a moose head, and his secretly taking a bet on a horse with help from the hapless Manuel.
Robinson also appears as chambermaid Polly (portrayed in the TV series by Cleese’s one-timewife, Connie Stevens, who co-wrote the series with him), and raises many smiles when she ropes in an audience member to act as her partner for a night out.
Tarty Flowers, which was also staged at this year’s Hilton Arts Festival, is a comedy in two acts that runs for 85 minutes, including a 15-minute interval.
It may seem a little loose at the edges at times, but that fits in perfectly with the whole Fawlty Towers universe, and the show emerges as a sure cure for the blues.
Patrons are encouraged to take along a picnic basket and drinks for performances at Michaelhouse, for which tickets cost R120 each.
For bookings, phone 033 234 1314 (8am to 1pm weekdays).
Rhumbelow Theatre shows are at 8pm on October 28 and 29, and 2pm on October 30. Other shows are at 8pm on November 4 and 5, and 2pm and 6.30pm on November 6.
Tickets cost R140 each. Phone 082 499 8636 to book.