The Ukulele Funhouse Orchestra (UFO) are set to bring their unique style to the Lister Hall in Dursley.

‘The Vicar of Dursley’ will feature the orchestra, which is made up of around 14 amateur ukulele players, and a drummer who, incidentally, is training to become a vicar.

Steve Pearson of the Ukulele Funhouse Orchestra is in charge of everything, from writing the scripts to booking the venue.

“There’s a reason they call me the ‘musical dictator’!” he explained.

“It’s almost become a full-time job, but it’s great fun doing something like this especially when it goes down well with the audience.”

In the past, the group have performed shows including ‘Pirates of the Severn Estuary’ and ‘Grandads Army’, and Steve tells me he is currently working on their next project – ‘Lord of the Strings’.

‘The Vicar of Dursley’ is of course based on the much loved ‘Vicar of Dibley’, and Steve runs through what the show will feature.

He said: “The story is the town has a new female vicar, and much like the TV programme there’s some opposition to this.

“At the same time a company wants to start fracking under the church, and this unites the whole town together to protest.”

Humour plays a massive part in the show, and Steve has managed to weave comedy into classic songs, while also fitting them in with the narrative.

“It’s amazing what you can do by changing a few words in a song to fit it into the plot,” he added.

“We’re doing a song called ‘West Country Road’, which is all about traffic on the M5. Then there’s ‘Bing Bong’ which is about people of all different religions knocking on doors in the village.

“We do everything from pop to classic rock to opera – we’re doing Nessun Dorma and Bohemian Rhapsody in this show – a real mix.”

‘The Vicar of Dursley’ will be at the Lister Hall in Dursley on Saturday 16th March. Tickets are £10 and can be bought from the Lister Hall or on www.ents24.com.