The Vicar of Dibley

'The Vicar of Dibley' originated as a well known, extremely funny television programme that many people can still recall. This has now been adapted in a few different versions to become a stage show. Due to the success of the television programme, everyone has such a fond memory of the strong, extremely varied and well known characters that make up the village of Dibley. This means it is a brave thing to try and emulate them on stage. The version of the script that was chosen by Oswaldtwistle Players is by Joyce Branagh. This seemed a little long winded, as it tried to cram four television episodes into one stage play. It also is not as easy to follow as other versions that are available, as it makes no real attempt to link the episodes.

From the outset we were able to see some of these well known characters come to life on stage as the show was cast extremely well. Everyone was able to fulfil the stereotypes of their characters. These characterisations must have been worked on a lot and brought many laughs to the audience, they made people reminisced and bring back so many fond memories from the TV show.  Throughout the production most cast members had good diction and projection of the voice. On occasion there were minor diction issues, which partnered with the rapid delivery of lines, meant some of the comedy elements were lost.

The show was well staged, although in a few scenes such as the vicars welcome party, the cast were often stood in a straight line across the stage. This obviously limited the realism of the scene. The stage was well dressed and put to good use, with it being split down the centre for The Vicarage as well as the Vestry. It also doubled up as the church with a projected stained glass window, this changed to a plain glass window in Act Two which emulates the original television storyline. Due to a play needing to be a standalone piece of theatre and there being no reference in the script. It could have been confusing for some people, who may not know the actual television show or had forgotten.

The floor space in front of the stage was also used for the Dibley Village Hall, as well as the seating for the church. It was a nice idea to have so many locations of the theatre used, as it helped portray different locations in the storyline. Although it did dramatically effect the pace of the production. The long distance cast needed to travel between locations and using the main theatre entrance made this long play even longer. On occasion when the cast left by multiple exits and used the steps back onto the stage, the audience had to wait during long pauses in the action. The overall run time of this play, which was commented on in the welcome and front of house information was somewhat excessive. Some of this was due to the script itself but the direction choices also had apart to play.

Within the show we had some nice touches such as the animals and puppets which came to church for the vicar’s special church service, in addition to this was a live organist within these scenes. These all added an extra point of interest, which the audience would have appreciated.  

Costumes were good and related to each of the characters personas. The vicar’s choice of ‘interesting’ jumpers particularly lived up to their reference in the script. The vicar’s blond wig however did leave a little to be desired as her original black hair could be seen underneath. This was a very quick change for her, which other cast members had to improvise over. It seemed like Jim, as the wedding camera man, filmed almost every audience member individually, a different method for this change might have worked better. Lighting was well designed and the different areas of the theatre that were used were illuminated well.

Overall the society did a good job at portraying some very well know characters and storylines. The pace was affected by the way in which the show was staged, but never the less we are sure an enjoyable evening was had by all who attended. We would like to thank the society for their kind invitation and we look forward to seeing their second play of the year in October.  

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