The Vicar of Dibley

For a society to produce a play which has been hit show on TV you need to have actors who can carry off the characters which everyone has become to know and love, well Denys Edward Players made exactly the right choice when they picked The Vicar of Dibley, everyone was perfect without going over the top to try and recreate the characters.

In the lead role of Geraldine was Joanne Ringrose who not only acted the part, she also lived it to bring her to life much to the delight of the entire audience. Her delivery of the lines was such that each and every one of them brought laughter from the entire house.

We all know the people who live in the village of Dibley and make up the parish committee, David Horton, the dour chair who is only really out for himself and what he can get for himself, and here Rob Calnan was perfect in every aspect of this character.

Others on the committee were also excellent, David Horton’s son was played with conviction by Marc Vesley, he had all the mannerisms and idiosyncrasies we all know of the character as did Sophie Perez-Smith as they dipsey Verger, Alice Tinker. When Sophie and Marc were on stage, we all knew it was going to be funny and each time they did not disappoint.

John Atkinson was a brilliant Jim Trott with his “no, no, no, yes” when asked any questions, I particularly enjoyed his advert he wanted to put in the parish magazine about recruiting bell ringers, his facial expressions were superb and almost brought the house down.

Frank Pickle, the pedantic secretary who was never sure as to how things should be put in the minutes was played perfectly by Charles Ibberson, each time he opened his mouth we all knew it was going to be funny.

Anyone who has seen any Denys Edward productions will be well aware of the talents of Richard Bevan and here again he did not disappoint in the part of Owen Newitt who fancies anything in a skirt which breathes, he was excellent.

The last character of this piece but certainly not the least one is that of Letitia Cropley who loves her baking so much she experiments with lots of very “different” ingredients and Sue Cox was absolutely brilliant, always knitting and producing cakes and offerings much to the delight of the audience. I loved the scene when she was knitting and unbeknown to her had started using the wool from Jim’s jumper, it was hilarious.

If not done right this play can be very “bitty” as it swaps from the Vicar’s house to the village hall where the meetings take place but here the action was so slick, as were the scene changes it ran extremely smoothly to make the action flow so well.

Congratulations must go to Andrew Hibbert as director plus the entire production team and of course the cast of such a brilliant production and excellent evening’s entertainment.

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