Fans of Fawlty Towers will be pleased to learn that the upcoming West End stage adaptation of the beloved sitcom will not contain any racial slurs. John Cleese, who co-wrote the original series, confirmed that he and Caroline Jay Ranger, the director of the production, had decided to remove the controversial scenes from the three chosen episodes – ‘The Hotel Inspector’, ‘The Germans’ and ‘Communication Problems’.
The play has been adapted as a two-hour production by Cleese, nearly five decades after the first episode was filmed in December 1974 at the BBC Television Centre. Adam Jackson-Smith will play Basil Fawlty, with the story following his attempts to please guests he believes to be hotel inspectors. The show runs from 15 May at the Apollo Theatre.
There was some expectation that the original racial slurs, featured in a scene with the character of Major Gowen, would be kept in the stage version. But in a press conference, Cleese explained that “we took them out” to reflect changing times and sensitivities. The use of the N-word and other racist slurs – to refer to a Caribbean cricketer and an Asian cricketer – had prompted criticism from some quarters.
Cleese went on to explain how he had always considered what the “literal-minded” would think when writing comedy, citing examples of irony and comic exaggeration. He expressed his eagerness to bring together talented actors to create this production. Fawlty Towers originally aired on BBC Two in 1975 and 1979
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