Watlington Players perform Vicar of Dibley remaining faithful to BBC sitcom that starred Dawn French says reviewer Jenny Beake

A production of the Vicar of Dibley by the Watlington Players stayed faithful to the original BBC TV sitcom.

The well-supported amateur group performed the comedy play at the village hall from June 1-3 which is based on the BBC series written by Richard Curtis and Paul Mayhew-Archer, writes Jenny Beake

The cast was well chosen in not only their resemblance but also their talent in portraying characters played by iconic actors such as Dawn French and Roger Lloyd Pack.

Steve Brooks made his debut directing the adult society and he said: “I wanted to aim as closely as possible to the visual and audio characterisations that our audiences would be used to.”

And we were certainly not disappointed.

For any Dibley fans, the set featured a high stained glass window, the Lord is My Shepherd theme, the famous settee in Reverend Geraldine Granger’s cottage, the parish hall and the desk where Dawn French would tell her final joke to the unsuspecting Alice, played on screen by the late Emma Chambers.

The cast played a great part, looking and sounding like the characters.

Particular mention for comic timing goes to Andy Prior as Owen, who waited for his lines as the audience laughed at the previous ones.

Nerys Brooks had the facial expressions of Dawn French and the scenes with Alice, played by Megan Abbott, were deliciously silly and funny.

It was a solid production and at times I felt they could have made a lot more of the parody by, for example, exaggerating the characters as the audience really lapped it up.

The Watlington Players’ production remained faithful to the series and donations were made to Comic Relief.

Upcoming shows are Matilda the Musical and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

You can buy tickets for those via www.ticketsource.co.uk/watlingtonplayers