Heart Thy Neighbour

In a suburban back yard neighbours catch up over a barbeque and a few drinks, and a few more drinks, and we witness the effects of too much alcohol on a neighbourhood feud.

The premise of this show was promising but the execution was a disappointment. The cast seemed word perfect but the performances were patchy, one minute being gross stereotypes (domineering wife, henpecked husband), then deeply introspective (sulking henpecked husband). There was little room for character development as the relationships and prejudices were laid out in the first scene and confirmed in the subsequent action.

The performers worked generally in the upstage half of a relatively small space which contained a couple of ubiquitous green plastic garden chairs, some dead plants and a barbeque.  There was some awkward staging which could be helped by moving the barbeque downstage.

Lighting was standard “Festival Rig” – a couple of lights either side on push up stands FOH, and the plot consisted of on or off.  There was music playing during the scene changes but the songs seemed to have little relevance to the action, apart from the repeated use of Edwin Starr’s “War”.  

Shirley Jensen