The Vicar of Dibley

The Vicar of Dibley is well known as a British Sitcom  and was aired on the BBC excluding specials between November 1984 and January 2000. It is set in the fictional Oxfordshire village of Dibley, which is assigned a female vicar following the 1993 changes in the Church of England that permitted the ordination of women. The stage play is an adaptation from the original TV seriel I remember the TV series and this cast were as close as you might get to the characterisations in the original TV cast in their mannerisms and accents.

The setting of St Mary’s Church was most appropriate and did not provide an excuse of having no set – an excellent and well-built fixed set formed the basis of several locations, created with changes in furniture by the cast and a slick hard-working back stage team. Neither did the location prevent some effective lighting and good sound with effects. This excellent production by Josie Marston and Nathan Beckett-Wilde was also enhanced by a variety of organ music, including the theme tune from Doctor Who, all under the talents of organist Lawrence Nicholas. On several occasions the audience even stood to sing, not least during an Act 2 wedding service when we joined in with a few lines from the Spice Girls when ‘2 become 1’.

In the opening scene, characterisations are quickly established;  David Horton (Michael Steiger)  the no nonsense head of the Dibley Parish Council, frustrated by pretty well all of his council colleagues, especially one and not at all in favour of a woman vicar, Frank (Tony Boardman) the annoying minute taker, Jim (Tam Weir) who prefaces everything with ‘No, No, No’, Owen (Neil Waghorn) always late mainly due to being on the loo, and Mrs Cropley (Jacquelyn Cook), little to contribute but makes very nice sandwiches. That leaves just two of the opening characters; Alice (Megan Crosby) who joyfully lives on another planet and Hugo Horton, (Ben Beckett-Wilde) son of David, naive and awkward with little experience of the world in general, especially women.

They are all shocked by the arrival of the new Vicar, Geraldine (Dani Davis) when they were expecting a man, but who explodes into the story and one by one they are eventually won over by her irresistible charm. Dani excelled in her timing, the asides and overall characterisation the audience would have hoped she would deliver. That must also be said of the whole cast in their  individual performances, including those joining the action later; Simon (Nathan Beckett – Wilde) the charming brother of David, who amusingly turns the head of Geraldine and the ‘woman’ played by Julie Merry, who seeking to disrupt the wedding in Act 2, realises she has arrived at the wrong Church.

There were many funny scenes, not least when Owen lunges for Geraldine and his proposal , Alice and Hugo eventually kiss (for four and half hours) and his proposal. Many more followed in Act 2; the quiz between Alice and David, which he had won for the last 27 years, naming of the David Horton Road, and Geraldine and Alice discussing the appropriateness of Alice’s wedding dress. But there were also poignant moments when Frank, normally with very little to say, ‘came out’, live on local radio, when Alice drops a bombshell about her family connections, when Geraldine announces she is to leave the Parish and when David, much against Geraldine’s original appointment, held her hand at the end asking her to stay.

I really enjoyed this production and it was obvious the rest of the audience did too, for which all involved, on, front and back stage should feel very pleased.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.