Neighbourhood Watch (Ayckbourn play)

Neighbourhood Watch is a 2011 play by Alan Ayckbourn. The play premiered on 13 September 2011 at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough.^[1]

Neighbourhood Watch
Written by	Alan Ayckbourn
Characters	Dorothy Rod Luther Martin Gareth Amy Magda Hilda
Date premiered	13 September 2011
Place premiered	Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough
Original language	English
Subject	Taking the law into own hands, authoritarian ideals
Genre	Black Comedy
Official site
Ayckbourn chronology
Life of Riley (2010) Surprises (2012)

Plot

The play centers around a brother and sister who innocently set up a Neighbourhood Watch group following petty crime from a nearby estate,^[2] only for the group to go out of control and become an authoritarian force controlling the lives of the people they are supposed to protect.^[3]

Reception

Critics were generally favourable with Michael Billington from The Guardian calling it "highly ambitious" and "biliously funny"^[2] while The Daily Telegraph and The Stage also gave it positive reviews.^[4]

A performance starring Paul Lavers was held at the Gordon Craig Theatre in Stevenage in May 2018.^[5]