The Vicar of Dibley

The Vicar of Dibley – The introduction of female vicars in the Church of England in 1993 caused quite a stir.  This extremely funny and exceptionally popular sitcom was created around the character Geraldine Granger arriving to minister in a fictional small Oxfordshire Village.  The many episodes have given rise to the performance of a variety of excerpts.  Hartley Arts Group performed many of the scenes and drew true inspiration from the programmes.

The production team had been very clever in creating the various sets required.  The committee tables on the thrust, the vestry down stage left plus the stage area was used for two separately created sets one for David Horton’s lounge and one for Geraldine’s home.  Every scene, both set and props, had been well thought through with just enough set dressing to ensure the right atmosphere and very well painted.  The lighting was very subtle and used to convey the mood.  The sound technician worked well to balance up the cast together with the singers who beautifully sang the hymns between the scenes.  All the costumes were well chosen for each cast member to truly reflect their personality.  The understated changes in costumes admirably reflected the various changes of scene.  Make up was fittingly minimal.

The director, Helen Lewis, had obviously worked hard to ensure all the characterisations were correct and that the cast were immersed into the dialogue.  Indeed, the cast were word perfect which is a great accolade considering the number of scenes and a certain amount of repetition of phrases.

Geraldine played by Emma Walker was suitably bouncy and bubbly as the curvaceous female Vicar of Dibley.  She maintained the character throughout.  Helen Robson superbly played the verger Alice Tinker in great style – she is suitable lacking in understanding of Geraldine’s humour however Helen quickly adopted the right persona with her own set of mannerisms particularly the body language and wringing of hands. David Horton the erstwhile stuffy Chairman of the Council and Father of Hugo tries to have everything his own way including an attempt at getting Geraldine removed.  Giles Webb ably took on the role with a suitable attempt at creating the character who longs for tradition, law and order and the status quo.  David Horton’s son, Hugo, was played by Paul Hughes who obviously revelled in the role whilst displaying a wide range of ties all elegantly tied.  Will Nash took on the role of Owen Nesbitt a slightly confused character who obviously adores his animals but becomes enamoured of Geraldine. Will showed his ability to change with ease his demeanour from grumpy farmer to smart suitor.  Bill Hansell was well-cast as Jim Trott and did not over indulge in ‘No, no,….no, yes’ routines. Very well done.  The pedantic clerk to the Council Frank Pickle was performed very well by Gerry Mills.  Just the right tone.  Mrs Cropley (Gill Richardson) was very subtly played.  Whilst her catering got obvious mention the knitting seemed to be forgotten.  The whole cast are to be congratulated upon how well they gelled together as a team and enabled each other to bring out the essential features of their character.

It is always hard to perform a play that has such well-crafted roles.  Hartley Arts overcame this and set a very high standard of all round performance.

Congratulations to everyone involved for giving us such an entertaining evening - would that there could be more such comedy in our lives today.

Kay Rowan – South East Councillor

 

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