THE
VICAR OF DIBLEY
New
Venture Players at Brentwood Theatre
06.04.17
It
must be a bit like being in a tribute band, doing one of these sitcom
spin-offs. Have they come to admire your performance, or to be
reminded of the much-loved originals ?
They
certainly pull in the punters – New Venture Players' pleasing
production playing to very respectable houses.
The
action takes place in the village hall and the vicarage, with a
couple of jokes in the vestry and the climactic wedding in St
Barnabas itself. As so often, the adaptation has lots
of short scenes and set-pieces – twenty+ here – with the familiar
pattern of punch-line [or not- “Let's
go and have a cup of tea!” not the easiest exit line]
and black-out for the scene change, accompanied by Howard Goodall's
familiar psalm.
NVP
have fielded an excellent cast of parishioners. All the dearly
beloved “characters” are present – pedantic Frank Pickle
[Melvyn Freake] taking the minutes, lusty lard-haired
Farmer Hewitt [David Lintin], dim,
dotty Jim Trott [Dicky P Stallard] and the
toxic Mrs Cropley [Paula Harris Brett]. All given the full OTT broad
farce treatment. Villain of the piece Chairman Horton is played with
relish by Vernon Keeble-Watson, with Tim Murphy as his twittish son
Hugo, and Lucy Mason as his prospective daughter-in-law, the
cabbage-patch doll Alice. And
there are a couple of appearances by some young guest stars: children
of the parish and nuptial
teletubbies !
The
voice of reason and Christian charity amongst all the gurning
grotesques is the Rev Grainger, back in the day when lady vicars were
rare birds, the “babe with a bob-cut and a magnificent bosom”.
She's played with wonderful warmth and perfect comic timing by Julia
Stallard.
Though
there are some slow patches, Joan Scarsbrook-Bird's production is a
faithful recreation of a fondly remembered programme, much
enjoyed by the audience, with
some memorable comedy moments – chocolate for lent, the litre of
gin and the kiss that lasts the whole interval ...
