Women On The Verger 2000
A hilarious look at romantic women’s fiction.
“Cancel all other engagements for the glorious LipService”
The independent
“There are so many marvellous things you can do with an Aga.
Comedy duo Lip Service live in theirs.
Popping in and out of the oven in a bewildering number of guises,
including a spectacular Astaire-and Rogers routine on the hotplates,
Maggie Fox and Sue Ryding extract the full range from a
range full of comic surprises.”
The Guardian
SYNOPSIS:
Marianne Quigley seems the perfect Rector’s wife, her peach complexion poised above her profiteroles at the choux pastry competition, her white gloved hand clutching her hymn book at the Harvest supper, her gently raised eyebrow, a quiet comfort to the bereaved and the poor. The Reverend James Quigley is a lucky man to have this woman stoke his Aga. Until Giles Netherpacket moves into the parish, complete with comfy corduroys.
When we wrote this comedy Joanna Trollope was all the rage, with many TV adaptations of her Aga sagas. Our set consisted of a giant Aga, which also doubled as the local church. I don’t think we could write this play today, it speaks of a forgotten world. We had enormous fun playing all the characters in the dwindling Church of England congregation. Sue wore stilts to play the enormously tall love interest Giles Netherpacket with his corduroy trousers. We had a good laugh recreating the congregation singing a hymn. Our friend Edward Taylor of the Whalley Range All Stars provided the groaning, Maggie’s sister in law and soprano Amanda Crawley held the note on for too long at the end. Sue’s late partner Mark Vibrans did bad organ playing worthy of Dudley Moore. I urge you to listen to the track. But best of all was recreating the hand typed and printed parish magazine. Now who remembers those?
