"The Vicar Of Dibley 2 - Another Helping" by Grantham Dramatic Society.

Guildhall Arts Centre, Grantham.

This is my first visit to the Guildhall Arts Centre, as well as the first production that I've seen by the Grantham Dramatic Society. The Guildhall Arts Centre is a beautiful building, which was once Grantham's Town Hall, courtroom and prison and dates back to 1866. Today it's a gorgeous looking building with a fully functioning 200+ seat theatre.

The three episodes, from the pen of Richard Curtis and Paul Mayhew-Archer, include "The Christmas Lunch Incident", where Geraldine has been invited to four Christmas lunches and does not have the heart to turn the offers down.  On Christmas night she is visited by Songs of Praise producer, Tristan Campbell, who asks her to marry him. She is overwhelmed until he introduces his fiancée, and it becomes apparent that he wants her to conduct his wedding. 

"Engagement", where Geraldine plays Cupid for Alice and Hugo, and things go so well that the pair become a couple.  Geraldine gives Owen his very first kiss out of pity, and he proposes marriage.

"Spring" where The Bishop of Mulberry is to officiate at the christening of Alice and Hugo's baby. David asks Geraldine to marry him and she is swept away by his declaration of love she ends up accepting.

You can see the theme running through the three chosen episodes.

Geraldine Granger is played by Victoria Dexter, who I'll admit, at times does look like a slim Dawn French, and also at times sounds very similar to Ms French, without even trying. One of my favourite parts of the TV sitcom is when there's just Geraldine and Alice together and Geraldine is telling the extremely naive Alice those infamous jokes at the end of each piece. The chemistry and friendship between these two is so lovely, and Victoria and Sharne, who plays Alice, is as cosy as what you see on the television.

David Horton is played by Gus Sparrow. Haughty Horton is highlighted well by Gus in the third of this triple biller, and comes into his own especially with the costume changes for "Spring" when he proposes to Geraldine.

Hugo Horton is played by Steve Healey, who also doubles up as Tristan. Hugo is the male equivalent of Alice, which is what makes the TV pair so well matched. I actually think Steve plays Hugo smarter than we've come to expect from the TV character, and seems to be a more superior partner for Alice. That said the scene where the pair of them have their first kiss is funnier than I've seen in previous productions of this section of the triple bill.

Alice Tinker-Horton is played by Sharne Gimbert, and for me the star of this production; then again Alice has always been my favourite character in the TV series. Close your eyes and just listen to the delivery of the script and it sounds so much like the delivery from Emma Chambers, the late actor who brought the lovable Alice Tinker to our TV screens. Sharne has obviously watched the way that Alice moves and acts and has brought that to her performance. The only thing that I would have changed would be to have Sharne wear a blonde wig instead of keeping her own brunette hair, because in the TV series, Alice was blonde, and I think this change would have automatically made the character instantly recognisable, because the delivery and physicality of the role was spot on.

Victoria Aves plays Mrs Tinker, Alice's mum, who appears in the Christmas episode. Straight away Victoria took me back to the scene from the TV programme, especially with the way Mrs Tinker speaks. If you've seen the episode, you'll know exactly what I mean.

Nicki McKay as Mary Tinker & Aoife. Two nice cameo roles, and my personal preference between the pair was the latter, Tristian's fiancée mainly because of the script for this character being richer and funnier than the one for Alice's sister; that's only my preference though.

Frank Pickle is played by Daniele Petruzzo. The one thing that makes you instantly recognise Frank from the series is the bow tie that Frank Pickle wears, and that's there on show.

Jim Trott is played by John Webber. Trevor Peacock, who played Trott was blessed to have the most recognisable un politically-correct catchphrase in this TV comedy with his "No No No No No No Yes" stammer and, again this is only a personal note to self, I think could have made more of this scripted speech defect. It's probably not the done thing in today's woke environment, afraid to be funny in case "funny" upsets people who suffer from such impediment, to play on such things, but this really is what makes Trott the character he is. Can you imagine Jim Trott without that impediment?

Owen Newitt is played by Leigh Matsell, in his second GDS production. All of these TV characters are so well known, made iconic by the actors who breathed life into characters that were borne on paper, that it's always going to be difficult not to be compared to the originals. Leigh though seems to be the opposite and I didn't see Roger Lloyd Pack and, much as I love this rough, unfiltered TV character that Lloyd Pack played, I quite enjoyed the jaded, almost devil may care attitude that Leigh brought to Newitt. This character shows that coarseness, and that ability to offend is funny.

Sarah Clark as The Creche Worker, as well as The Woman. Another couple of lovely cameo parts, and again as soon as they appeared, the characters took me back in my mind to the scenes on TV, making them relatable to watching the particular TV episode, especially the very funny scene where the Creche Worker is fulfilling her first assignment in that role and Geraldine having been left in charge of Alice and Hugo's baby. Parts of this scene has the ability to cause great shock, something that Richard Curtis is so good at creating on screen, but on stage (and on TV) caused people to laugh.

Mark Brown as The Bishop. Now, being a massive fan of the TV series, this cameo appearance has always been one of my favourites. Why? Because of the absolute absurdity of the character. If you can't remember this character and scene, I'm not going to spoil it by revealing what makes this character so funny and always reminds me in some way of the legendary Jack Douglas. Mark Brown is fantastic in this cameo, and how he stopped himself laughing in parts, I'll never know.

Carla Hibbitt and Sarah-Alice Smith as The Children, who with Alice Tinker comes along carol singing during the Christmas episode. Sarah makes her debut with Grantham Dramatic Society in this role.

Directed by Mark Brown and Sophie Read, both of whom I had the pleasure of meeting at this performance. I'm not sure how nervous this cast were on opening night but, again I will say that this is my personal opinion and observation but to start with the cast did seem just slightly nervous and things could have been tighter in the first act. Now, the reason why I bring this conclusion to nerves was that Act two was so much tighter and they all seemed to have cast off any sign of nerves and looked as if they were enjoying the play and their characters, and that made such a big difference. I don't expect the rest of the audience even noticed because of the slightness of this change.

A couple of things started to bug me though but can easily be remedied. There are two door ways on to the set; one on the left and the other of the right sides of the stage where the actors enter and exit. These doors are supposed to be solid doors that the actors have to show physically opening and closing. Much of the time the actors walked straight through the portals without using a handle to open and close the "invisible" door. I only noticed a couple of the actors actually use the door handle. Again, something that maybe no one else would notice.

The other was also to do with the door jamb/invisible doors. There were several door bell moments, some we saw an actor actually press the invisible door bell and be invited inside. Most times you heard the door bell go but there was no one there to press it, unless Geraldine has a door bell right on the door jamb as well as another prior to reaching the door to her home. Consistency is needed, but this comes from that picky Director in my mind who notices possibly inconsequential little things. For me, reality is everything, even in a comedy production. Directors and actors probably get tired of me spouting on about plates that have no food on, or glasses with no liquids in for the actors to eat and drink in a meal scene - by the way not in this show as that turkey on stage made my mouth water and I wanted a spoonful of that pudding during the Christmas scenes - but have you ever been at a meal where the plates are empty and diners are pretending to eat an invisible meal?

Sound effects and incidental music is by Nick Elliott and Mark Brown and both are well utilised.

A three way set which incorporated Geraldine's home, the meeting hall and homes for the various characters during the Christmas scenes. This well designed area of the production is thanks to Hope Morgan and Cirice Russell.

Just look around at this set and try and count the number of props involved; you'll probably lose count as there are so many. Chris Sparrow and Sophie Read have worked hard by the looks of it on this front.

Rosemary Gibson's costumes are excellent as are the hair and make up by Cirice Russell and the rest of the cast.

One other thing that I really enjoyed and did not expect for one second was the video filmed in a church for Geraldine's dream sequence, and there's a very well known face that pops into this section among the whole of the cast above. This section was created by Steve Healey.

"Vicar Of Dibley" is one of my favourite TV sitcoms and the Grantham Dramatic Society have produced a cracking triple play that will have you chuckling all the way home. The script is literally golden and this cast deliver the funnies with immense joy. The show was well worth the drive out of town; I just hope that I'm not run out of town by some of my personal theatrical preferences!

"The Vicar Of Dibley - Another Helping" is at the Guildhall Arts Centre in Grantham until Saturday 8 June.