Burton Taylor Studio, Tue November 25th - Sat November 29th 2008

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Lita Doolan November 26, 2008

Very entertaining... yes bit too much volume at times, but it is a small auditorium, would be fine at a larger venue.

Very impressive performances particularly by the actor who played the policeman and the insurance salesman.

Go watch this- it was refreshing.

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Chris Giangiordano November 26, 2008

When the high street is hit by a series of burglaries, two concerned shop workers and the local priest band together to form a Neighbourhood Watch.

Each character is, in their own way, striving for something other than apprehending the villain: the priest has lost her faith in God; the joke shop assistant is pathologically bent on playing pranks at any cost; the gadget shop owner (who sports perhaps the most outrageously bad French accent since the days of 'Allo 'Allo) is badly in debt and tormented by a peculiar lust.

Maybe the three livelihoods on show here say something about the distractions of a modern society wherein we seek solace in the holy trinity of Gags, Gadgets and God. Perhaps too the inadequacies present in these people is a comment on the emotional poverty engendered by such lifestyles.

Well, maybe. Larger concepts are not the focus here; instead a sequence of hysterically performed skits takes the place of coherent storytelling – though this is not always the disaster it could be. The performances are robust and energetic, particularly in the case of the actor playing the joke shop assistant, who also manages to hint at a genuine inner life to the character. Generally speaking though, too often a funny line, or smart section of dialogue, is spoilt by the tendency of the team to shout the punchlines. They should rather have more confidence in the script's humour. It can afford to be over-the-top (and almost always is) but OTT performances actually contrive to render the play less funny than by rights it deserves to be.

The script, by Antony Rickard and Jon Cheung, ultimately also lacks confidence in itself. Interesting ideas or plot developments are presented and then immediately dismissed or undermined in the next breath. This sort of anarchic, freewheeling style can be very appealing – think The Young Ones – and indeed here serves as a source of humour in itself, but ultimately I was left a little bit disappointed because the set-up promises more than this. The overall impression is of a production frantically trying to keep the audience's attention, and sacrificing the depth, plot and meaningful characterisation which would actually serve to make the play funnier and more compelling.

Many of the set pieces are, however, very amusing and some of the word-play (particularly in an inspired scene where an insurance salesman tries to pitch his wares to the priest via a pretended confession) is excellently done.

At an hour's length, Neighbourhood Watch doesn't outstay its welcome and was well received by the small, but engaged audience. The commitment and zeal of the performers deserves credit, as does the sheer invention present in much of the script. That the dots are never really connected is a shame but should not prevent an hour's entertainment to be had from this offering.

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