We see that the number of people regularly in the congregation is diminishing and that the Church has become largely associated with the rituals of baptism, marriage and burial to which people flock.  This play is stuffed full of comic anecdotes and witticisms but it doesn’t for me make the play a comedy, just enjoyable.  The vicar recalls a baptism name he has refused.  He is asked what the name was.  “Pagan” is the reply. 

I never felt that the vicar explains with clarity his reasons for the banning of the balloons.  There are other themes in the play but explored only lightly. 

The Highlands have adopted a black child Naomi who has been trying to make a career in London as an actress.  Naomi is making contact with her birth mother. 

Mary Highland (Phoebe Nicholls) knows that the ultimate result of her husband’s stance will be that he will lose his job and she will lose her home.  David Highland has an unconventional reputation: he drinks too much, has had a car accident while drunk and extra-marital affairs, so he isn’t exactly the pillar of society and the church.  On the night I saw it, David’s confession to Lee (Josh Finan) that he is a shagger was met by a loud “Oh!” exclamation from a woman in the audience. 

A young canon Craig Collier (Jack Greenlees) has been sent into the parish, who is incidentally gay with a partner, and he knows the Church of England will not sanction gay marriage. 

Lee tells David about the Evangelical Meetings in the village hall which David assumes is a small group until Lee says there are 200 people there.  Another comment here on the waning popularity of the Church of England.