A DARK comedy by prolific British playwright Alan Ayckbourn is the latest production by Rugby Theatre.
His 75th work Neighbourhood Watch tells the cautionary tale of brother and sister Martin and Hilda, devout Christians who move into a suburban house on the Bluebell Hill development.
When they meet their neighbours, they are soon warned about the nearby Mount Joy estate, where ‘incest, violence and drugs are rife’.
Soon they’ve built a fortified fence round their home and started a neighbourhood watch scheme – with catastrophic consequences.
Director Steve Crump said: “It’s a story about how, left unchallenged, our beliefs can foster fear and paranoia.
“Ayckbourn invites us to consider our views on law and order. Are we safe in our beds when the police seem powerless?
“And the audience is asked to reflect on the temptations and consequences of taking the law into our own hands.
“It’s a brilliantly observed and uniquely British take on the state of modern society, as well as being painfully funny and disturbingly truthful.
“Perhaps because of the calamity that unfolds, we are left with the unsettling thought that we may all be a hair’s breadth away from disaster.
“Neighbourhood Watch invites us to think again about what we consider as normal.”
The show opens on Saturday (May 5) and continues for a seven-performance run until May 12. Visit www.rugbytheatre.co.uk or call 01788 541234 for tickets.
