The Inn Crowd

Fans of cheeky British comedy don’t have to cross the pond to get a dose of Anglophile humor: The Equinox Theatre Company is importing it to the Denver stage with A Night at Fawlty Towers, which opens tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Bug Theatre. For this production, Equinox has...

By Robin Edwards

May 30, 2013

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Fans of cheeky British comedy don’t have to cross the pond to get a dose of Anglophile humor: The Equinox Theatre Company is importing it to the Denver stage with A Night at Fawlty Towers, which opens tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Bug Theatre. For this production, Equinox has adopted four episodes of the John Cleese-written late-’70s television show Fawlty Towers and combined them into a play that follows snobby hotel owner Basil Fawlty through a series of madcap adventures and mishaps. “There’s no deep meaning here other than to have fun,” says director Shannon McCarthy. “Focus on the worries of Basil Fawlty and let him take all the worries of the world for a couple of hours — and then just leave feeling uplifted and joyous.”

Inspired by a rude hotel owner Cleese encountered while filming with Monty Python, the BBC show became one of Britain’s most be-loved sitcoms, skewering everything from miscommunication with Americans to such eccentric characters as a woman who doesn’t want to turn up her hearing aid and wear out the battery.

And how will small-screen slapstick work on the live stage? See for yourself: A Night at Fawlty Towers continues on Fridays and Saturdays through June 15 at the Bug, 3654 Navajo Street. Tickets, $20 in advance and $22 at the door (with a pay-what-you-can Industry Night on June 3), are available online at equinoxtheatredenver.com or by calling 720-984-0781.
Fridays, Saturdays, 7:30 p.m.; Mon., June 3, 7:30 p.m. Starts: May 24. Continues through June 15, 2013

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