The Vicar of Dibley

I don’t know how many hours were spent reading TV scripts and watching videos but the time spent resulted in a very fitting tribute to this classic 1990’s comedy.

There was a strong cast with every member maintaining the character, accent and mannerisms throughout. I must also mention the slickness in scene changes by the crew assisted by cast members. This was no mean feat as there were more than 20 scenes.

Deb Crump ensured that her direction maintained an excellent pace from start to finish and the energy of the cast made sure that the audience were entertained from start to finish.

The comedy timing in the scenes between Alison Cahill (Geraldine) and Rachel Holmes (Alice Tinker) couldn’t be faulted. There were some very funny interjections from Paul Wescott (Owen), Stu Etherington (Jim) and Pete Aucott (Frank). Charlene Walker kept us amused with her variety of culinary delights. The lynchpin for the misunderstandings has got to be Alice and her relationship with the hapless Hugh Horton played by Dave Crump. This caused some very funny situations, again requiring good timing, which they got. Nick Whitehouse (David Horton) saw his whole world falling apart because of the arrival of the new vicar and his son’s increasing infatuation with Alice. Nick was the ideal person to play ‘the straight man’ amidst all this mayhem. There was some good support in the cameo roles of Tristan (Richard Pritcett, Ruth (Deb Crump) and Aoife (Jodie Cockeram)

The scene changes were enhanced by an excellent choice of music and together with some good costumes, lighting and sound it made for a first class evening’s entertainment.

Congratulations must also go to David Crump and Mike Gaunt for adapting all this for the stage and I hope that it won’t be the last we see of it. Well done!

 

 

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