Theatre Review: Vicar of Dibley

The sleepy town of Dibley comes to Detour Theatre from Wednesday night. Vicar Geraldine Granger (Lisa Thorne) is getting herself into trouble with her new romance Simon (Tony Coleman)

Tauranga audiences have shown their delight at the return of the Vicar of Dibley to Detour after a four-year absence. They have booked out every single performance.

Director Kim Williamson has been pleased and astonished by the response.

"We knew the show would be popular but no one expected that we would sell out every seat for every night more than two weeks in advance of opening," she said.

"We are sorry that some people will be disappointed they can no longer buy a ticket."

Those lucky theatre-goers who have already booked are in for a sure-fire treat.

Almost from the start of the opening night performance, the audience was howling with laughter at the antics of the much-loved characters from the classic BBC hit comedy television series.

One audience member told me she couldn't even see the stage for much of the show because of the tears of laughter that were filling her eyes.

Detour has called back some tried and trusted regulars to fill key parts, with Lisa Thorne convincingly reprising the role of Vicar Geraldine Grainger that she made her own in previous stage productions of the popular sitcom.

Talented Jen Edney again plays the dippy Alice Horton (nee Tinker) with equal panache.

Having just married the inept Hugo Horton (Quentin Pidduck), Alice sets the hilarious tone for the evening when the Vicar asks her how things are in the bedroom. "Well at first we had a bit of trouble working out what went into where," replies Alice naively.

She is, of course, talking about the bedroom furniture.

When Geraldine becomes enamoured of Simon Horton (Tony Coleman), she has to contend with the combined but well-intentioned interference of the usual suspects: Owen Newitt (Liam Hagan), Frank Pickles (David Guy), Jim Trott (Geoff Herd), and David Horton (Devon Williamson).

Vicar of Dibley Christmas! consists of two extended television episodes written by series creators Richard Curtis and Paul Mayhew-Archer.

After the interval, the pace notches up when the village parish council decide to stage their very own Nativity Play. The Vicar has plenty of crazy antics to cope with, not least when Owen comes to his own conclusion about the identity of one of the kings in the Christmas story and rocks up in an Elvis costume.

But an event that gives every sign of becoming a complete fiasco turns into a very special occasion for the heavily pregnant Alice while playing Mary.

Kim Williamson's directorial prowess is evident when she uses half-stage sets and slick lighting effects to seamlessly translate a succession of television filming "takes" to the theatre for The Vicar of Dibley Christmas!

Her skill and experience, combined with an accomplished cast, will ensure those hoots of laughter keep on coming right until the end of the show's run on December 8.