Audition Notice
The Vicar of Dibley, By Richard Curtis and Paul Mayhew Archer, Adapted for the Stage by Tina Sitko
Directed by Tina Sitko
Sunday 24th March 2024, 7pm
For more information and audition pieces, please contact Tina on tinasitko@hotmail.com
Production Dates
BOAT (Brighton Open Air Theatre): Weds 19th June – Sat 22nd Including Matinee Saturday
BLT: Tues 25th June – Sat 29th June
Rehearsals
Expected to be Mon, Tues, Fri, Sun (TBC) starting mid-April.
About the Play
This is a laugh out loud comedy that has been adapted for the stage from the much-loved TV sitcom. The play covers three popular episodes.
‘The Arrival’ where we are introduced to the quirky characters of the Parish council as they deal with the outrage of being sent a women Vicar. Geraldine only has one Sunday service to win them over and keep her new position.
‘The Engagement’ sees Dibley’s lovebirds Hugo and Alice profess their love to each other. However, the father of the groom is less than impressed with having Alice Halfwit Tinker as a daughter-in-law.
‘The Wedding’ of Hugo and Alice sees the whole Parish council coming together. Each member is able to offer their particular ‘skills’ to make it a day to remember.
Whilst we are not looking for identical physical resemblances, auditionees should familiarise themselves with the TV show and be prepared to audition as the characters.
BLT actively encourages auditionees from ethnic minority communities and any of the below parts could be played by any race.
You do not have to be a member of the company to audition, but if you are cast you must join.
Characters
Geraldine Granger - Geraldine is the bouncy, bubbly, curvy female Vicar of Dibley. She has a keen sense of moral correctness and will stand up for injustice; she also has a deep love of the people of Dibley despite their many flaws! She has an even greater love of chocolate and ice-cream... 40-55
David Horton - David is one of those people who enjoys being in charge and assumes he is: he might even be described as being a bit power-trippy. He's a pompous Cambridge-educated, upper-class millionaire and although divorced, an upholder of stern traditional family values especially his own. He longs for tradition, law and order and the status quo. 55-65
Alice Tinker - Alice is a few sandwiches (and cakes, and pork pies, and sausage rolls...) short of a picnic. She has a heart of gold but doesn't understand many of the common issues of life, nor Geraldine's jokes. She's very sensitive and easily upset - but too thick and vague to be easily offended! More amusing and key to the plot of the show is the way she's also easily confused, and has a vivid imagination surrounding what's normal (such as Teletubbie bridesmaids). 25-35
Hugo Horton - Poor Hugo is the bumbling puppet of his controlling father. He was brought up only by David for the majority of his childhood and it shows. He aims to avoid conflict and is a people pleaser. He has been in love with Alice for 20+ years and is just waiting for the right time to express his feelings towards Alice. 25-35
Owen Newitt - Owen is the local farmer. He regularly suffers with gastric health complaints and describes these in disgustingly graphic detail. He's a bachelor with broad tastes. Like many of the other male residents of the village, he lusts after Geraldine. 40-55
Jim Trott - Jim has a very unfortunate stutter, insofar as he precedes almost every statement with "No, no, no, no, no...". Needless to say the other residents find this annoying, time consuming and confusing when trying to gain a straight answer from him! This aside, Jim spends a lot of time generally dithering anyway and so rarely manages to achieve much. 50+
Frank Pickle - Frank is very "English" in appearance: highly eccentric in both manner and dress, and outstandingly well-spoken. However, whilst he speaks exceptionally well linguistically, most of the Dibley inhabitants wish he would speak a little - no - a lot less, and has been known to bore people to sleep when he speaks! As Clerk of the Parish Council, he's keen to take minutes as accurately as possible, but has a habit of dithering about the finer detail of things, such as whether to minute someone saying nothing, so the minutes end up taking twice as long to record as the meeting itself! 50+
Letitia Cropley - Letitia is a very caring lady who longs to provide nourishing refreshment and sustenance to her close friends and neighbours, and ensures the church is full of attractive flower arrangements during Sunday worship. The problem is her creativity could be described as rather eccentric: her mourning flower arrangement included pineapple! Her palette is a bit odd too, as she's created countless dishes which require, shall we say, an acquired taste? Parsnip brownies are at the more tame end of her repertoire! The villagers fear her cooking but eat it out of courtesy; unfortunately this only spurs her on to further “gourmet” creations! 65+
Simon Horton - Simon is David’s dashing younger brother. Well-groomed and a natural charmer. He appears in the last episode for the wedding and has a ‘spark’ with Geraldine. 45-55