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Neighbourhood Watch is Alan Ayckbourn’s 75^th professionally produced full length play and its first showing in front of a paying audience.  The Stephen Joseph Theatre Company did it absolute justice.

It is a play that starts with the ending, at a memorial service dedicated to Martin (Matthew Cottle), the deceased brother of Hilda (Alexandra Mathie), who executed her speech so well that we, the audience, were straight away drawn into the whole fabric of the play.

Newcomers Martin & his sister Hilda have recently moved into their dream home on the Bluebell Hill Development with such great expectations and high enthusiasm and had thrown their door open to the whole neighbourhood with a housewarming party.  Ironically, they are to become the latest victims of the ever increasing crime rate.  At this sadly low attended event we meet the stalwart figures of the Development, the wispy Dorothy (Eileen Battye), the ex army & security guard Rod (Terence Booth), who had us all in fits of laughter as he regaled his new neighbours of the history and events of the development. The nervous and down trodden Gareth (Richard Derrington) and his flighty wife Amy (Frances Grey) who was openly having affairs and seemingly working her way through the estate.  The timid Magda (Amy Loughton), the music teacher from next door, frightened by her own shadow and her husband Luther (Phil Cheadle), currently Amy’s beau.

All the characters gelled so well in narrative and the first act’s timing was impeccable.  It certainly had me giggling at the innuendos and misunderstandings.

At the turn of events, a neighbourhood watch group is set up with Martin taking control and relishing his new found sense of power, aided in the main by his sister Hilda and Rod.  With the loss of trust of our justice system and society the neighbourhood watch scheme soon develops into a somewhat sinister affair, run on fear and people’s weaknesses.  The estate is soon being ‘protected’ with high, electrocuted fences, street wardens, patrols, I.D cards and even stocks, to ward off potential trouble makers.

As predicted, all goes horribly wrong with both the group and the individual characters. The life of Magda touches on some deep and sinister past, with an over powering father and then husband.  We begin to understand Amy’s character and why she is heralded as the ‘fallen women’, and we can even sympathise with the brother/sister relationship of Martin and Hilda, although outwardly perfect, the cause of unhappiness as Martin in turn takes up with Amy.

The play subtly shows us the danger of taking the law into our own hands which, in this instance, ultimately results in the death of Martin.

I would recommend this as one to watch, it ticked all the boxes of a very good play, being hilariously funny and yet managing to get a very serious message over loud and clear.

easthampshire.org group:

• Yvonne Arnaud Theatre

Reviewed by: jhowlett

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