All and Sundry provide a faultless Fawlty Towers

Buy photos » Victoria Vollans as Sybil and John Armstrong as Basil who will be among the cast of Fawlty Towers, which is set to delight audiences at Bromsgrove’s Artrix. s

THOSE wanting a nice summer break can escape to Torquay for a couple of hours by going along to All and Sundry's exceptional production of the famous Fawlty Towers.

On its opening night on Wednesday (June 27), a very talented cast had a near sell-out audience in hysterics throughout, with three of the TV sitcom's episodes: Waldorf Salad, The Builders and Communication Problems.

The advantage of putting on a production of such a well-known popular show is the script is already there, but the challenge is filling the large shoes left by such famous actors.

And John Armstrong as Basil, Victoria Vollans as Sybil and Simon Baker as Manuel were all excellent in their roles - their timing was impeccable and the chemistry between the characters was as good as you would see in the original.

Emma Horton and Linda Scerri, who both played Polly throughout the evening, were also brilliant, as was Gail McGhie in the role of insufferable hard of hearing Mrs Richards.

In truth, it was hard to pick out anyone who did not put in a great performance in a fantastic and faultless production.

The episodes chosen were definitely done in the right order - building up to Communication Problems where there are, undoubtedly, some of the best farcical scenes you will see on the stage this year.

The energy throughout this show is unbelievable, leaving the audience with a real sense of comedic satisfaction by the end.

If you love the TV show, this is definitely for you and not to be missed.

Performances of Fawlty Towers take place tomorrow night (Thursday), Friday (June 29) and Saturday (June 30) at 7.30pm.

There is also a Saturday matinee at 2.30pm.

Tickets, at £12 (£11 concessions) for the evening performances and £11 (£10 concessions) for the matinee, are available by calling 01527 577330 or at www.artrix.co.uk.

Regional entertainment »