Cast of Vicar of Dibley 2009 production

(See 2007 cast)

Debbie is delighted to be filling Geraldine’s cassock again, and having a great laugh working with her Dibley family.

Debbie studied drama at De Montfort University, and has performed in charity concerts to professional cabaret, from the Edinburgh Fringe to the West End (and West Down). With Small Pond Debs has performed in the hilarious and controversial Vagina Monologues; five successful seasons of variety with The Summer Show, and last year’s festive extravaganza, It’s Christmaaas!

For Studio Theatre she has performed in many musical revue concerts, Sondheim on Sunday being a particular favourite, and took the title role in Hello Dolly!.

Debs is married to Glen, a sound, lighting and AV engineer & designer; and keeping it in the family, their three year old daughter Grace has already made her stage debut as a dancing Andy Pandy.

Debs would also like to thank Grace’s fantastic grandparents for all their help, love and support.

Elena is thrilled to be playing Alice again. Although it wasn’t long after she had managed to shake Alice’s accent and mannerisms off from last time that they all had to come out again!

Elena has a BA Hons in Early Childhood Studies, but also studied Performing Arts at college, and has been involved in a number of productions, both technically and on stage. Elena most recently played Sally in Me and My Girl for Small Pond’s and Studio Theatre’s last co-production.

After a difficult year, Elena would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have been there for her in one way or another!

Elena hopes you enjoy Dibley as much as she has enjoyed being a part of it all!

(Elena remains the most modest member of the cast!)

“Gray, stop playing football, get into the Music department now, you’re in the school show.”

I’d never been on stage before and was terrified. It was HMS Pinafore and my introduction to AmDram and ‘Operetta’ of all things.

I never did thank that teacher for opening up a whole new world of fun for me. I joined a group in London for about five years performing in oratorios, cabaret, operetta and grand opera, mostly in the chorus.

From then until five years ago I just sang in choirs, but particularly my local church choir – so I know a bit about the characters one finds in a church community. I came to Devon five years ago and joined Barnstaple Amateur Operatic Society, where I have played in five shows in as many years as a principal.

I have also been in shows for Braunton Productions and Taunton AOS. My previous roles have been: Pirate King in Pirates of Penzance, Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady, Pooh-Bah in The Mikado, Big Jule in Guys & Dolls, Fagin in Oliver! and Tevye in Fiddler On The Roof.

This is my first unmusical role and I am looking forward to it immensely, especially as I am a great fan of ‘Dibley’ and its inhabitants.

In 2007 Robert bored audiences as Frank Pickle and will bore them again this year with his trusty moustache, Vernon, his comfortable cardigans and copious minutes.

In an attempt to appear more interesting, Robert spent 2009 fighting on the Landmark stage as seven-year-old John in Blue Remembered Hills and in the trenches in Oh, What a Lovely War!, both for Studio Theatre. Before this he tried hopping, skipping and jumping as Parchester, the family solicitor, in Me and My Girl.

His favourite stage roles include Jeffery Fairbrother in Hi-de-Hi!, which he considers one of the most under-rated pieces of comedy writing, and as Leo Bloom in a sequence from The Producers, but still he cannot shake off the ‘boring’ label.

When not trying to be interesting, Robert writes plays, comedy sketches, a novel and useful Post-It notes to himself. He also enjoys pickling onions and composting.

In fact, he couldn’t be more unlike Frank Pickle, although did you know that Robert had his first haircut on Friday 12th January 1962?

Christmas has come early this year and Tony is looking forward to the chance to play Owen again.

He enjoys playing a humorous role and thinks that the ability to make someone laugh is the best feeling in the world. This year Tony is about to play his first romantic role as well – maybe.

He has been involved with many local amateur productions over the last 25 years, mainly in comedy and musical roles, but being able to take on the persona of Owen Newitt has put Tony back in the manure (which is a lot cleaner than what Owen would have said!).

Please enjoy this production as much as Tony has, performing it with such a fantastic cast.

Before moving to the seaside seven years ago Mike spent many years writing and directing panto and music hall and appearing in many of the big musicals in the Thames Valley.

Since then he has taken on lots of musical and comedy roles at the Landmark, (Private Godfrey in Dad’s Army, Fred Quilley in Hi-de-Hi! and Lord Battersby in Me and My Girl) and appeared as the token ‘Old Fart’ in Small Pond’s Summer Shows and as HM The Queen in the Christmas Shows.

He has devised and directed Studio Theatre’s Pavilion wartime nostalgia Show When You’re Smiling for the last two years and enjoyed playing the hapless Raymond in Blue Remembered Hills and most recently his return to the trenches in Oh, What a Lovely War!

Jim Trott is a great character part which he relishes playing once again in this new version of The Vicar Of Dibley. (He is resisting writing anything with No, No, No in it, as six people a day shout it to him in Ilfracombe High Street.)

Since playing Gerald, in Me and My Girl this time last year, Laurence’s work with Ilfracombe’s amateur theatre companies has been non-stop to say the least. This has often meant rehearsing for one show while performing or directing for another.

Being involved with most of the major local productions for the Landmark Theatre has seen him sing, act, dance, compere, write and direct throughout the year.

In June Laurence wrote and directed The Upstairs and Downstairs Songbook and is currently writing next year’s show.

Most recently he played several characters in the classic WW1 ensemble piece Oh, What a Lovely War!

Laurence says, “I’m really looking forward to reprising my role of Hugo in this new and exciting production.”

Pamela Beecham
(Letitia Cropley / Mrs Tinker)

After 12 years as a professional dancer, including Billy Cotton's TV Variety as a Tiller girl, Pamela's amateur career began in Ilfracombe writing and producing no less than 16 pantomimes for the Ilfracombe Pantomime Society, of which she was also the founder. Pamela also spent seven years choreographing for Barnstaple Musical Comedy Society.

She has choreographed and co-produced many shows for Studio Theatre, including My Fair Lady, Hello Dolly! and Me and My Girl.

As well as producing, Pamela has also performed on many occasions, taking lead roles in Dad's Army, Steaming, Hi!-de-Hi! and, memorably, as the wicked stepmother in Wonderful Christmastime.

Once again, Pamela brings the to life that curious cook and flower arranger Letitia Cropley, doubling up as the equally odd Mrs Tinker.

The Vicar of Dibley marks James’ Landmark Theatre debut. He recently performed in Barnstaple Little Theatre’s production of Kindertransport by Diane Samuels.

James says, “I’m extremely excited at the opportunity of performing a much loved television comedy on the stage.”

James trained in media performance at the University of Salford and worked as an actor for six years, appearing in over 1,000 performances for Theatre in Education Company Cragrats.

He has also worked on three plays, one dance piece, three commercials, two short films, four pantomimes and many voice over projects before returning to the beauty of North Devon.

James is currently undertaking teacher training and continues to feed his passion for theatre through his teaching.

Zoe is currently in the third year of her degree at Plymouth University, studying Theatre and Performance.

Zoe hopes to go on and teach in the performing arts sector.

She has been interested in theatre since a young age and knew the whole first act of Oliver word for word by the age of 7!

Zoe looks forward to working with Small Pond Productions in the future.

Neil has been involved in many shows and the arts in North Devon for a number of years, having appeared in a wide range of diverse roles from Jack Point in Yeoman of the Guard to Hamlet, and from Henry VIII to the classical Orestes.

He also appeared in the highly acclaimed Just Remember Two Things at the Queen’s Theatre, and has most recently been seen in Twelfth Night and Me and My Girl (both times as a drunken letch...!).

Neil is looking forward to finally joining the Dibley family, especially as he gets to play the love interest for once.

Originally from Staffordshire, Katie has studied various types of performance from an early age.

After completing the BTEC National Diploma in Acting at Sutton Coldfield College, and working in one of the country’s largest theatres, Katie moved to Devon to begin the Foundation Degree in Theatre Company at North Devon College.

She plans to begin a Certificate in Education at the college later next year, with the intention of teaching theatre to further education students.

She was thrilled when she was asked to be part of this year’s Vicar of Dibley – even if it did mean donning a . . . well, you’ll just have to wait and see!

Lee studied theatre and drama studies at Roehampton University and now teaches musical theatre and performing arts at Petroc, Barnstaple.

Having been performing and producing shows in the North Devon area for 17 years, doing everything from producing to prompting, Lee has been part of over 150 productions.

Lee started performing with Studio Theatre, ATTCo and Panto Society and has enjoyed performing in many of their shows over the last decade and a half. In 1999, Lee produced his first musical show, the original production of Fifty
Years of Music. From there he went on to create Small Pond Productions alongside Debbie Hadley and has been producing with them since 2001.

Since then Lee has moved more into directing, but still performs. Most Recently Lee has performed as Feste in Twelfth Night, Spike in Hi-de-Hi!, Walker in Dad’s Army and Mr Shanks in Habeas Corpus, all with Studio Theatre. Most recently Lee directed a tribute to Rodgers and Hammerstein and Studio Theatre’s production of Oh, What a Lovely War!

Lee has enjoyed this return to Dibley and is so happy to work with such a talented cast and crew.