"The Vicar Of Dibley" by Bonington Players

Bonington Theatre Arnold .

When the old vicar in the sleepy village of Dibley dies, the village are sent a replacement, but who they get causes a bit of an uproar in the tight knit community, as they get a female vicar, Geraldine Grainger; a non-traditional, rock n roll, chocolate loving babe of a vicar, complete with a bob hairstyle and a magnificent bosom. Well, this comes as quite a shock, but it doesn't take long for the residents to come to terms of this replacement, apart from David Horton.

Adapted from the original TV series written by Richard Curtis and Paul Mayhew-Archer, the stage version takes many of the highlights from the TV programme and is presented in a series of chronological sketches.

Geraldine is played by Sheila Millington , who has obviously scrutinised Dawn French's Geraldine because the well recognised nuances and the manner of speech are all there. I do this quite a bit in the theatre, I shut my eyes and listen to the speech and how the speech is delivered, and it could have been Dawn French on stage. It was not long until I saw Geraldine Grainger on stage and not Sheila Millington, and that for me is a massive positive because Sheila's acting skills made that possible.

Alice Tinker is played by Jenny Adams. Lovely and ditsy, and that wedding dress at the end was superb fun. Not sure if the physicality was exactly the same but here is a character totally borne of the late Emma Chambers and that is a big ask of any actor to replicate Alice Tinker. Jenny's job was not easy but, again, I believed in every word and action Jenny delivered. Brilliantly fun to watch.

David Horton is played by Rob Hurst. Overbearing, bossy and an egotist; all of the traits that David Horton has in the TV show were brought out, and the haughty physical side of Horton was there. Gary Waldhorn's slimy, almost snake like delivery of the script isn't an easy ask, but the show is not a tribute show to the TV actors, it's a chance for fanatics of the show to get to see the TV characters, and the brilliantly funny script, come alive before their eyes; and it certainly does that. I've never seen Rob fall flat as an actor, and he continues to deliver as Horton.

Hugo Horton is played by Alex Brimelow. Hugo is very wet behind the ears, forever living in the shadow of his overpowering father, David. Alex actually adds more interest to Hugo's character for me and lifts the original character. I love the scenes with Hugo and Alice, creating a very warm, moist feeling - or was that the lack of air conditioning in the theatre - as a couple, especially with the close of Act One and the start of Act Two, which not only teased "aaahhhs" from the audience but laughter as well. Alex and Jenny were aptly chosen for this pair of love struck puppies.

Jim Trott is played by Wayne Hill, and all we had to hear was Jim's first line trotted out to create an eruption of laughter from the packed theatre. Wayne absolutely smashed the accent and the delivery of all of those "no no no no no no no no yes" parts.

Owen Newitt is played by Adrian Bacon. Owen is the farmer in the TV series who has no social graces at all, but in an odd way was quite lovable, albeit deliciously rude. Only Owen could get away with some of the things he came out with and not insult or shock anyone viewing. I can imagine that Adrian had great fun with this character in the rehearsal process, because he was certainly fun to watch tonight.

Leticia Cropley is played by Karen James. I am positive that Karen is nowhere near old enough to play the role that the incredible Liz Smith made her own, but the culinary crankiness came across well, but I missed that laugh that Liz/Leticia has in the TV series. maybe the character needed to be featured more, but if it's not in the script, what can you do?

Frank Pickle played by Chris Gardner. There are so many wonderful characters in this show and in the TV show Frank always came across as confused and undecided all of the time. Chris delivered these traits well and I enjoyed the back and forth banter as the minute taker. As with many stage versions of TV sitcoms, the physical side of the character will immediately bring to recall the part the actor is playing and this was spot on with Frank Pickles, for me with the bow ties.

That said though, if you were shown just the costumes and props for every character, you'd identify every character. These actors brought the characters to life.

The ensemble consists of Jennifer Chatten, Genevieve Price, Michelle Bellamy, Laura Harding, Michael Luczynski and Rose McCarthy. While scenes were being changed there was a clever introduction of the choir ensemble who sang and danced, and by the way I loved that there was one who sought the heavenly spotlight more than the others, Jennifer Chatten. It gave us something to focus on, just for a minute or so while the scene behind the curtains were re-set. Great idea by the Director to do this, as in other productions of "Vicar" I've seen in the past didn't include this clever choice of entertainment.

Directed by Charlotte Hukin, and it could not have gone better for her, or the cast. Even when there was one small slip, which I only noticed because I've seen the show before and I wouldn't think anyone else may have spotted, it was covered up swiftly by the three actors on stage. It was pacy and the scene changes were on the whole done quickly; again i would not have thought anyone else would have noticed a couple of scene changes that could have been tightened up.

I'm being critical from a reviewer's point of view but covering many of the scene changes were brilliant choices of music which had several of the audience members singing along, so they couldn't have cared less about the timings, they were having an absolute ball singing along to Kylie's "I Should Be So Lucky", Elton's "Crocodile Rock", Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" and "Get Me To The Church On Time", and I must admit, the well chosen songs made the show swing, several choices having been used in the TV series.

Sound Design and operator is by Eddie Adams and Lighting Design is by David Goatham, operated by Peter Hodgkinson. There was just a slight missed sound cue, which I know everyone spotted and created laughter. I am sure that after today, audiences will not get the missed cue, so will miss out on this little "Play That Goes Wrong" moment going forward. These things happen, but unexpected gems of comedy like this test the steel of the actors on stage, but was well recovered and the audience showed their appreciation of their professionalism.

The set is designed by Anna Hodkin, using a split set with half being Geraldine's front room and the other being where they had their Dibley meetings, and the sermons depicted by a large lit stained glass window which also came in handy for the out of the ordinary wedding scene.

I've been a fan of the TV show since it started and have seen practically every episode, over and over again. With classic comedy like this you get to know the scripts etc but no matter how many times you see the episodes, they never fail to make me laugh - a sign of brilliant writers.

This show made me laugh at all the favourite scenes that I'd laughed at on TV. The characterisation from all the actors were almost like mirror images of the TV counterparts, and it showed the hard work the individual actors invested to get their characters right. It also showed the hard work put in by the Director to create the right flow. Comedy is by no means easy to bring to life on stage, and even with the greatest script, you have to have a team, on and off stage, to bring the comedy and characters to life. Bonington Players have that team.

Did I love this show? No No No No No No No YES!

"The Vicar Of Dibley" is at Bonington Theatre, Arnold until Saturday 29 April.