Neighbourhood Watch

Theatre Royal Bath

Sometimes you get a sixth sense at the very start of a new play that it is not going to be all you'd hoped it might be.

In  this new play by Alan Ayckbourn we start with a eulogy to a dead man, who died, we guess given the nature of the play, in his fight for the survival of his neighbourhood.

Because of its length, there should, we began to think,    have been   a hint of mirth about it. 

None of this means that the play is never funny because it sometimes is but the gaps  between the laughs are really too long.

Ayckbourn describes the play as a dark farce about our hang ups with  such things as law and order and  health and safety.

We also have a bit of lesbianism, lust  and fundamental Christianity thrown into the mix all of which tend to muddy the waters of the central theme of the possible breakdown of law and order. Oh and   there is a dark warning about the dangers of fighting fire with fire.

Maybe there is just too much to cram in to get the laughs flowing regularly.

Having met the dead  Martin (played by Matthew Cottle) we now go back in time to learn how he died. He and his sister have moved into a smart new house which overlooks a sink housing estate.

Out of the window our hero sees a boy (actually going home from his music lesson with the woman next door) scurrying over his lawn and is prepared to do battle with what he believes is an intruder from the estate.

Things deteriorate  until there are nightly patrols on Bluebell Hill and special identity cards for the residents. As a warning about the dangers of  letting thugs get the upper hand it is a timely one. As a farce, well I am not so sure.

Christopher Hansford