The Vicar of Dibley at Christmas

As expected at Lowestoft we were welcomed into the auditorium by an excellent and atmospheric set which gave the mood for the triple bill Vicar of Dibley Christmas story.

The Dibley Choir of nine was an unexpected bonus to the plays. The original music introduced the action and continued at suitable intervals with carols and Christmas music to cover the changes. An excellent idea well performed.

When covering a television series with plays, it seems usual to base the characters on those we have seen on the small screen and thus the casting and characterisations followed this pattern. I had never seen the third play episode so this was a novelty for me. Certainly Karen Carter had exploited the talent and strength and characterisations to the full in this very well cast production to give maximum impact.

The Arrival was the opening of the series where we were introduced to all the characters: the pompous and self importance of Andrew Liddon as David Horton in a tight character study throughout and the fury of the appearance of a female, not his idea of vicar; the dithering of the minutes secretary Frank Pickle (Robert Hope) as he struggles to cope, the stammering (well maintained) by Terry Rymer as Jim Trott, the earthy farmer with internal problems of Owen Newett from Gerald Wilson, these the backbone of the Parish Council with the ups and downs of management. Add to these a cameo performance as Mrs Cropley of sandwich fame from Deanne Dickson. Good relationship shown with father as bullied and not always in line son, Stephen Hayward as Hugo a good addition to the Players team. And not to forget his relationship to the dotty but charismatic Alice of Natasha Bird. As said a dream team of cast.

And dominating the action, in a huge role to learn, and padded up well to match TV, Lauren Nevill excelled in her personality and energy as Geraldine, the title role. Particularly in The Christmas Lunch where we really laughed to watch the three turkeys to be consumed in the various houses. She interacted so well with the situations involving the village inhabitants and brought out the humours, loved the timings of those ‘throwaway lines’.

And on to Winter and the staging of the Nativity Play in the stable, the rehearsal of the shepherds and that amazing vision of the angel, the sequence of the kings and loved the Elvis and the Billie-Jean, the fraught tension increasing between Joseph and Mary and the debaucle on stage with a baby, this play really made the laughter grow even more.

The whole evening a warm and bright light on a winter evening and deserved of the total sell-out of all performances.

 

 

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