Former Strictly Come Dancing champion is ‘absolutely loving’ recreating iconic British comedy
Joanne Clifton as Polly and Paul Nicholas as The Major in Fawlty Towers – The Play(Image: Hugo Glendinning)
“This is very different from what I normally do,” said dancer and singer Joanne Clifton of her latest role in the touring production of Fawlty Towers. “I’ve been a green, farting ogre on stage [Princess Fiona in Shrek The Musical] and a vampiresque Morticia [in The Addams Family].
“There’s no dancing, no singing and my character doesn’t have any funny lines. I am really, really posh British, with a bit of an American twang; I’m the only serious one in it, to be fair.”
Joanne is playing Polly, a part that Connie Booth made her own in the original hit TV series that ran in 1975 and 1979. Joanne studied replays of Connie in the role very closely, to get “her Polly” down to a tee and so as not to disappoint audiences who are so well-acquainted with the comedy, if the packed houses Fawlty Towers – The Play has already played to are anything to go by.
“There’s so much fandom for it,” she said, “and people still know and love the lines. People are saying the lines before we have even said them.
“The younger generation who weren’t even around when the show was on TV are absolutely loving it as well; they are finding it really funny. It’s so relatable, I think. Even now, people are going on holiday and to B&Bs and seeing these kind of people.
“We were at Torquay, the other day – and of course Fawlty Towers was based on a hotel where John Cleese [who wrote the series, with Booth, then his first wife] stayed in Torquay. Oh my gosh, what an experience.”
Joanne, who made her West End debut in Fawlty Towers, is delighted to be out on the road with the touring version of the play and which calls in at Hull New Theatre, from May 12 to 16, on its ten-month run that ends in August. After it concludes, she will be back in her home town of Grimsby, and in her more usual dancer guise, for a special anniversary show called 10 – Joanne and Ore – Champions Reignited that will mark ten years since she lifted the coveted glitterball with Ore Oduba in the BBC ’s Strictly Come Dancing, on August 22.
In the meantime, Joanne is concentrating, hard, on keeping a straight face in Fawlty Towers. “I struggle not to laugh. Every single bit of the show is hilarious.”
Joanne said: “We watched it on TV when I was younger. It was my dad’s favourite programme and I remember it being on at home.
“The love for Fawlty Towers is unbelievable, considering there were only ever 12 episodes. We’ve been selling out theatres all over the UK.”
Joanne said she felt privileged to be among a cast who seemed “happy to be here” and giving faithful portrayals of the TV show’s characters even though, she said, Cleese “wasn’t precious” about the script he has adapted for the stage. “When we were in London, we had workshops with John.
“He’s not precious about his work; he lets us play with it. He sprinkles his comedy gold-dust around it.”
Off-stage, the cast spend time together “going on adventures”, Joanne said.”We’ll get the train to somewhere – people have even been paddleboarding together.
“When I got engaged [she and boyfriend A J Jenks announced the happy news last September] the whole cast threw me a Fawlty Towers hen do.”
Fawlty Towers – The Play features three of the most cherished sketches, cleverly stitched together by Cleese and with a new finale that wraps up proceedings. Book at the Hull City Hall Box Office, call 01482 300 306 or visit www.hulltheatres.co.uk