Meet the good people of Dibley Parish

Introducing our cast for this month’s productions of The Vicar of Dibley. We have some regulars, some returners, and we welcome some splendid newcomers. Let’s say hello!

Toni

Geraldine Grainger

Toni has been performing in shows around Cambridgeshire for over 30 years, initially starting as a dancer before getting into musicals. Some of her favourite roles have been Lucy in Jekyll & Hyde, Suki in The Witches of Eastwick and Belle in Beauty & The Beast. Toni is delighted to be performing her first ever play with BaCStage.

Julie

Alice Tinker

Jules made her BaCStage debut as Michelle in ‘Allo ‘Allo (2019). Most recently she was part of our first Murder, Mystery and Chips night, and before that she played Welsh psychic Blodwyn Morgan in Death by Fatal Murder (2022). She has also played Sarah in My Friend Miss Flint (2022) and Pattie in Season’s Greetings (2019). Before joining BaCStage she was a member of the Meridian Singers.

Luke

Hugo Horton

Luke was also part of our first Murder, Mystery and Chips night. He has been part of BaCStage for over ten years, performing a variety of roles including Herr Flick in ‘Allo ‘Allo (2019), Bernard in Season’s Greetings (2019), Tom in My Friend Miss Flint (2022) and Inspector Pratt three times, in Murdered to Death (2014), Secondary Cause of Death (2018) and Death by Fatal Murder (2022).

Peter

David Horton

Peter is delighted to be back. He joined BaCStage in 1999 when it was known as the Millennium Players. He has acted in numerous productions, graduating from a few lines to Principal and several Panto’ characters including Dame. He has directed us in It’s a Wonderful Life, Deborah’s Party and How does your Garden Grow. His roles with other groups include Mr Wardle in Pickwick, Lord Scrumptious in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Federico Cesi in The Medici Stars by David Sear, performed as part of National Drama Festival in Coventry 2023.

Mark

Owen Newitt

New to BaCStage, Mark’s been performing in theatres for over 30 years, most recently in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang as Baron Bomburst. His favourite roles have been The Beast from Beauty And The Beast where he met his wife, and The Narrator in a game-inspired panto he wrote himself, performed in front of 1500 people, supported by the National Philharmonic Concert Orchestra.

Ash

Jim Trott

Ash has been part of BaCStage since its inception in 1997, when we were known as The Millennium Players. He has starred in countless plays and pantomimes, most recently as Enzo Garibaldi in Death by Fatal Murder (2022), Albert in My Friend Miss Flint (2022) and Rene in ‘Allo ‘Allo (2019), and was also part of Murder, Mystery and Chips.

Steve

Frank Pickle

Steve made his BaCStage debut as Lieutenant Gruber in ‘Allo ‘Allo (2019). He returned in June of this year for Murder, Mystery and Chips where he was unmasked as the guilty party. Having played a Nazi officer and a murderous murderer, Frank Pickle is the obvious next role for Steve to play.

Jo

Letitia Cropley

Jo is pleased to be “treading the boards” again with BaCStage. She has appeared mainly in musical productions. Lead roles include Principal Boy in pantomime and Athene Tomb in Tip Toe through the Tombstones with BaCStage, Lois Lane in Kiss Me Kate, Nancy in Oliver! and Babe Williams in Pajama Game, all with Pied Pipers Cambridge, and Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady with SIMADS. For 7 years Jo was lead vocalist with dance band Midnight Flyer and is also a member of Cambridge Choir Out of the Shadows.

Becky

Woman

Becky has been a BaCStage regular since the early days of the group. Most recently, she was murdered in Murder, Mystery and Chips. Prior to that, she was Nancy Allwright in Death by Fatal Murder (2022), where she made it out alive having appeared in, and being murdered in, both of the previous Inspector Pratt plays. We really should stop murdering her quite so often.

Denise

Director

Denise joined BaCStage to look after the children in the changing room and make the occasional cup of tea. Since then she has taken on many roles including curtain opening, prop sourcing, scene changing, stage managing and now directing. But she still doesn’t and never will do acting!

You can get your tickets online by following this link or scanning the QR code below. We also have a limited number of tickets to buy in person in the village, at Bluntisham Fryer and The Lounge (both next to the BP garage) but these are only available until October 15th. After that, tickets will be available online only, right up until the doors open for each performance – unless they sell out beforehand, of course!

As well as putting on a show we are also raising money for Comic Relief with this production. We’re very grateful for some generous donations for raffle prizes from a number of local businesses. We’ll tell you more about that soon, as well as introducing the cast, so watch this space!

The Vicar of Dibley

~ a stage play by Ian Gower and Paul Carpenter
adapted from the original TV series by Richard Curtis and Paul Mayhew-Archer ~
~ With kind permission of Tiger Aspect Productions and Comic Relief ~

Directed by Denise McMillan

October 25th to 28th 2023 ~ 7:30pm ~ Bluntisham Village Hall

A donation will be made to Comic Relief from each ticket sold