Artistic Director Alison Pollard-Mansergh, Producer Jared Harford, and the whole team at Interactive Theatre International are proud to announce that Faulty Towers The Dining Experience, the critically acclaimed international immersive dining phenomenon that has just celebrated its fifteen year in the UK and more than twenty five years worldwide, have seen a year on year increase both in audience numbers generally, and in terms of the number of international visitors attending UK shows.
Faulty Towers The Dining Experience is a highly interactive experience, where audiences enjoy a 3-course meal and 5-star comedy. Devised by Alison Pollard-Mansergh, Andrew Foreman and others, the show has been touring the UK and internationally since 2008, having appeared in 43 countries to date, and employing 56 actors per season. The show has toured to over 1000 venues, with approximately 400 shows per year on average across the UK. A loving tribute to the BBC’s classic TV series, the show has been seen by over a million people worldwide since the very first show at the Ridges Hotel in Brisbane on 24 April 1997.
Faulty Towers the Dining Experience is now the longest running immersive production, the longest running Fawlty Towers production in the West End and the longest running show based on a TV series in the West End. It is also the longest-running Fawlty Towers production of ANY KIND running worldwide.
Demand for tickets continues to grow both for the West End production at the President Hotel in Bloomsbury – a recent extension means there is now availability until December 2024.
Sell-out residencies in UK cities such as Birmingham, Manchester and Leicester have seen overall attendance rise 20% since 2022, and group bookings have increased by 87%, making up 10% of the total West End ticket sales.
International ticket agent Viator / Trip Advisor have seen their sales for the show in the UK triple since 2022, with the highest visitor numbers coming from the USA, Australia, Netherlands, Canada, and Norway.
Producer Jared Harford said, “Everyone here at Faulty Towers is so grateful for the strong return of international visitors to the West End. And we’ve been thrilled with the success of our regional residencies – rather than taking business away from our show in London, instead we’ve seen our numbers rise overall – a testament to the strength of the domestic market.”
When the audience become diners in the ‘Faulty Towers’ restaurant, pretty much anything can happen – because 70% of the show is improvised. The fun starts as guests wait to be seated. It then hurtles along in a 2-hour tour de force of gags and shambolic service as Basil, Sybil and Manuel serve a ‘70s-style 3-course meal together with a good dollop of mayhem.
Expect the unexpected!
Faulty Towers The Dining Experience launched in the UK in 2008, with an initial show at The Hostess in Mansfield, Notts, and then made its Edinburgh Fringe Festival debut later that year – where it became an annual fixture.
In October 2009, the show played its first performance in London: a sold-out weekend in Covent Garden. The next two years saw sold -out summer seasons of six weeks. Then, in 2012, the show opened its first London West End residency at Charing Cross Hotel (now Amba Hotel Charing Cross). Since opening, the cast have performed to notable guests including Fawlty Towers’ very own Andrew Sachs, John McEnroe, Stefan Edberg, and England footballer Joe Cole, as well as taking a pop-up version of their restaurant on the London Underground and to a sold-out Royal Albert Hall.
In 2019, the one millionth guest welcomed through the door at Edinburgh Festival Fringe – celebrations include bagpipes and Champagne!
In 2022, the show moved from the Raddison Blu Edwardian to the President Hotel in Bloomsbury, and the show celebrated its 25th anniversary worldwide, as well as ten years in London. Tickets are now on sale until December 2024.
2023 has also seen sell-out residencies in Manchester and Leicester, which will return in 2024. Other residencies have been announced for Birmingham and Edinburgh, as well as a series of international touring dates including The Netherlands, Sweden, Ireland, Denmark, and Norway. Faulty Towers The Dining Experience is a loving tribute to Fawlty Towers, the BBC TV series written by John Cleese and Connie Booth. Their TV scripts are not used in Faulty Towers The Dining Experience. Faulty Towers The Dining Experience uses its own original scripts and format