Review: Neighbourhood Watch *****

But in play number 75, the man who for some time was considered the voice of middle England, has an absolute field day.

In Neighbourhood Watch he has a laugh at all those critics who called him cosy and and yet, while having a crafty snigger, he still entertains everyone. This is best demonstrated when the delightful Matthew Cottle, as Martin, finds his inner dictator and makes a spittle-flecked speech about the breakdown of moral society.

The speech, brilliantly performed, draws irony-free applause from some of the audience and ironic laughter from the Guardian brigade. There are not many playwrights who can entertain both crowds with the same speech. It’s as though Ayckbourn is showing off just how masterful he is – his directing here is like a masterclass.

Neighbourhood Watch is a time-travelling play that opens with recently departed Martin, being eulogised by his sister Dororthy, a barmy, creepily sinister Eileen Battye.

We go back in time to Martin and Dorothy’s arrival at the Bluebell Hill Development. A middle class residential suburb, an act of vandalism leads Martin to take up arms against a (possibly imagined) sea of trouble from the ‘estate’ down the hill and Bluebell Hill is turned into a fortified camp with razor wire fences. But while the undesirables are kept out, what, asks Ayckbourn is being kept in this now fortress?

There are Orwellian echoes, brilliant social commentary and, given the recent riots, with a play that contains the line “people.. have become disenchanted with the established forces of law and order... day by day the rift is growing”, it seems Ayckbourn can add soothsayer to his CV.

To October 15.