REVIEW: The Vicar of Dibley, Wivelsfield Little Theatre

After lockdown, WLT returned to the stage in a recently refurbished Wivelsfield Village Hall with an almost faultless performance of this comedy, adapted from the original TV series by Richard Curtis and Paul Mayhew-Archer, adapted for the stage by Ian Gower and Paul Carpenter with kind permission of Tiger Aspects and Comic Relief.

In front of four full houses, this company of non-professional actors cruised through this special iconic show. Opening to a delightful rendition of Psalm 23 by Hurstpierpoint College Choir, the play was superbly led by Lesley Corbett as Dibley’s new Vicar, Geraldine Granger, excellently aided and abetted by Maggie Carter, the dim-witted verger Alice Tinker, and David Tettersell, the rude and frustrated Owen Newitt.

The play is fundamentally divided into four sections – the introduction of the Parish Council Members and then the arrival of the new Vicar “but she’s a woman!” in the first half followed by, in the second half, the lead up to and actual wedding of Hugo to Alice, with a finale in which Geraldine learns she is to be relocated to Liverpool!

All the action of the main production is presented on the one stage set, which is astutely divided into the Parish Hall and the Vicarage by lighting effects and wonderful choices of music and song interludes which included film themes such as “The Exorcist” and “Jaws” and three songs from Abba, one of which was used by Jim Trott’s best man speech, “Know-know-knowing me, know-know-knowing you”! The Vicarage was used for the Vicar telling the verger a joke or two as was the case at the end of the TV programmes, and Alice giving up “I can’t believe it’s not butter” for Lent!

The players closely reflected the characteristics of their roles in the play. Laurence Leng with the effective “no, no, no, no” of Jim Trott, James McKinnie’s submissive Hugo who eventually learnt how to kiss, Jo Callaghan cooking up a maligned Letitia Cropley, John Merrett not dithering too much, but pedantic, as Frank Pickle, and Philip Robinson as the commanding David Horton, with an understandable intolerance of some of his villagers, especially Miss Tinker, his future daughter-in-law!

The wedding scene, produced brilliantly, used the auditorium for the Bride’s arrival and used the stage apron in front of the curtain. The Bride and Groom had teletubbies as bridesmaids at the ceremony, which was beautifully interrupted by Val Orchin’s Lady who had arrived to the “wrong church” to declare the Groom a bigamist!

Great fun carried out by a well practiced group who obviously enjoyed their performance. Welcome back!

Review by Jim Ransley

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