Reader Reviews
Neighbourhood Watch (Tricycle Theatre, Inner London)
Back to Show Details| Score | Comment | Date |
 | Very, very disappointing. This was comedy/farce by numbers, with stock characters and stock dialogue. There could have been a slow and subtle move from typical Neighbourhood Watch concerns to the extreme. but it all happened in a few minutes. Ayckbourn's first big hit Relatively Speaking is currently touring, a masterpiece in my opinion. I doubt if his latest will ever be seen again. - John Charles | 26 Aug 12 |
| I’ve lost track of the number of Alan Ayckbourn shows I’ve seen – maybe half of his 75? – but of late the new ones have seemed dated and the old ones like veritable museum pieces. Neighbourhood Watch at the Tricycle (what’s it doing here?) was no different. The one location and setting was dull and restrictive and the whole thing was just a bit predictable and dull. The premise was fine and it was nicely acted, but it didn’t sustain its 130 minute length and left me thinking ‘so what?’ - Gareth James | 02 May 12 |
| Cheap shots at easy targets. - Michael Spring | 27 Apr 12 |
| A waste of talent, space and time - fredjo | 25 Apr 12 |
| It's been ages since I was last at the Tricycle (Broken Glass I think) and I would not have expected to find an Ayckbourn play at this most political of theatres. However, although there is the usual collection of middle class oddballs, this is a much more satirical Ayckbourn than normally expected as a neighbourhood watch scheme mushrooms into a fenced-in estate, armed security, mediaeval torture devices and morality police. Ayckbourn himself directs and, despite the dark themes, this is consistently very funny and superbly played by a cast largely unknown outside Scarborough. The play is not without its faults: the spiral into absurdity is too quick with not enough rational stages leading up to the paranoid madness; the sex mad Amy is utterly implausible as she would never be attracted to middle aged inadequates like Martin or her even more pathetic husband Gareth - oddly these are the same problems as with Kara Tointon's character in Absent Friends. Neighbourhood Watch is play number 75 or something for Ayckbourn and one of the first after his stroke. Thankfully he remains on top form and I laughed a great deal without losing sight of the darker undercurrents and there are a couple of delightful twists at the end. It deserves to be seen by a far larger audience in the capital than be crammed into the Trike. - David Baxter | 19 Apr 12 |
| Amazed that anyone would give this messy play 5 stars. Even the laughs were thin on the ground and the plot completely ridiculous. The WOS review is so correct in remarking that this play doesn't know what it wants to be- farce? social commentary? It does neither very well, I'm afraid. - Karen G | 18 Apr 12 |
| Brilliant ! - ils | 16 Apr 12 |
