The Vicar of Dibley

The scene is set when a new female Vicar arrives in Dibley following the death of the old incumbent. She is met immediately with hostility from the Parish Council Chairman, David Horton, who wanted, and expected, a male vicar. "Instead you got a babe with a buzz cut and a magnificent bosom!” declares The Rev. Geraldine Grainger, and this sets the tone for the rest of this very funny play, as she sets out to win them all over. It was adapted for the stage by Ian Gower and Paul Carpenter from the original TV series by Richard Curtis and Paul Mayhew-Archer.

Any play based on such a popular television series, with so many eccentric and well-loved characters, must present quite a challenge to the Director and cast. Do you mimic the characters from the TV series or do you create your own? I think in this case you have to mimic the familiar characters, and the cast, under the able direction of Teresa Enke, managed to pull off this challenge extremely well.

In the title role, Jo Walker was a powerful lead. She was very much in charge of the action, being on stage for most of the play, and her characterisation never faltered. You quickly forgot that she wasn’t Dawn French and enjoyed her bubbly enthusiasm and charisma. I particularly liked the small scenes which used to end the TV episodes, where she tells Alice a joke – brilliantly handled by both actresses.

As with the TV show, much of the fun is provided by the supporting characters.  Stern parish council Chairman, David Horton, was played to perfection by Martyn Kille, constantly exasperated by the fools around him and aghast that his son Hugo wants to marry the barmy verger, Alice Tinker. Sarah Maker was wonderful as the lovable but dim-witted Alice – suitably dotty throughout and her handling of the “I can’t believe it’s not butter” scene was word-perfect and an absolute joy! James Batchelor’s interpretation of Hugo was spot-on too – full of shy, unsophisticated social awkwardness but still keeping it just on the right side of believable.

Some of the funniest moments in the play were when the full cast was assembled for the meetings of the Dibley Parish Council, which allowed pedantic Frank Pickle (Robert Haines), dithering Jim Trott (Paul Foster), swearing farmer Owen Newitt (Richard Meeson) and eccentric cook Letitia Cropley (Rowenna Gordon) to share some comic gems. All took on their characters really well, making you believe in the lunacy that was evolving.

As I have come to expect from this group, the box set looked very professional, with appropriate furniture and props, making maximum use of the fairly limited stage space. The set split the stage down the middle with the Vicarage living room on stage right and the church hall on the left. This allowed quick transitions between the two for the many scene changes required by the script. These changes were accompanied by the TV series theme tune being sung by the choir of the local church in Hambledon – a nice touch.

This delightful play demonstrates the talent of this drama group and their commitment to producing shows of a high calibre. I think that fans of The Vicar of Dibley will be well satisfied with the result – the capacity audience on the night I attended certainly were!

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