Vicar of Dibley

~~It is always very difficult to transpose a favourite television comedy series, in one single play, to the amateur stage, and a very small one at that,  but this Company gave a very good attempt and provided a very enjoyable evening.  Opening night though it was, I would have hoped there to be a few more people in the audience to appreciate the time and effort that the cast and Society had made.

The play consisted of a great number of short scenes interspersed with blackouts but having the stage divided into two on half lighting made the flow of the play much better although, at times, having nine persons, plus effective scenery, on half a stage was a squeeze.  Alyson Hunter (Geraldine Grainger) held the play and performers together well, there were a lot of lines to learn and she got through them all very efficiently with some lovely facial expressions.  She was very ably assisted by Samantha Graveson who was delightful as the very dippy Alice Tinker.  Her accent and body language were superb although sometimes I found the lack of volume through her accent, hard to hear.  Paul Cross was just right as her very gangly, innocent lover Hugo with Ian Knight as his very domineering father David Horton.  Bob Cochrane and Ben Whitney very ably played the parts of Jim Trott and Frank Pickle, bringing out all the comedy with their little idiosyncrasies, which left Phillip Crann as the very over sexed Owen Newitt and Anne Bateson playing a delightfully vague Letitia Copley with her practically inedible home baking.  David’s brother Simon was romantically played by David Ayres who caused Geraldine’s heart to skip many beats, even more than chocolate!.  Yvonne Crann completed the cast with two small walk on parts – I would like to see this lady perform in a larger part, her diction and stage presence etc were excellent. The play ended with the Christmas Nativity play where Alice has her baby.  This was very well and sympathetically handled and brought the evening to a delightful close.

I must mention however the sound effects and the lighting – everything was there, on cue, and there must have been a large number of them.  Well done Liam Hunter and everyone else who helped to make this evening so enjoyable.

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