The Vicar of Dibley

Nearly 3 years ago I visited Dibley courtesy of North Manchester AODS and here we are again with many of the cast remaining in place.

The set was nice as the Vicars lounge with the parish hall to stage left and the vestry for the last joke to stage right.  There were many scene changes but all were dealt with well. The lighting worked well in the main with a couple of hesitations on bringing down the lights at the end of the scene. Good use was made of the auditorium for some scenes. The 3 episodes chosen were Engagement, Dibley Live and Love & Marriage.

The costumes were very good and suited the characters as did the actors filling those iconic shoes. There are many scene changes in each episode which presents problems for a director but Vanessa Randle the Director had used the spaces well with minimum hold ups.

Geraldine Grainger, the Vicar was played this time by Kelly Parker who did a fantastic job in 2 and a half weeks to learn her lines. Her facial expressions and mannerisms were so like Dawn French and her timing was brilliant. I have seen this play a number of times and in my opinion this was the best performance I have seen of this role. Her diction was clear, concise and delivered in the correct accent meaning the audience never missed a line. Kelly shone in this role.

Equal to Kelly, Amy Gilmore was a brilliant Alice Tinker. With a super accent and a portrayal of child like innocence Amy portrayed this well loved character with perfect style. Her scenes with Hugo were very sweet and her chemistry with the Vicar was lovely to watch.

Martin Taylor is the reincarnation of Roger Lloyd Pack as Owen Newitt. The look, the mannerisms and voice/accent were spot on. Great timing to add to that list made it a perfect portrayal.

Tony Cenci was great as David Horton with dry delivery and pompous outlook on life. There were some nice touching moments with Geraldine in the final scenes too.  His son Hugo was well played by Andrew Borg-Fenech who played the lovesick dullard with style. I loved the radio scenes which showed Andrew’s comic delivery is sharp as well.

Nick Lowe was a scream as Jim Trott, the No, No, Yes man and his delivery was spot on with great interactions with the audience in the church congregation scenes. David Long was lovely as Frank Pickle who plays the church parish secretary whose minutes become verbatim despite David Horton’s best interest. The supporting actors all played their parts well with nice cameo roles

This was a fabulous evening’s entertainment with a great choice of episodes, casting and super portrayals by this wonderful cast who had really thrown themselves into their roles. The audience loved it including me and my guest.

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