Neighbourhood Watch

And God said: Thou shalt love thy neighbour. He obviously hadn’t reckoned on Ana.

Robyn Nevin is Ana: a battle hardened Hungarian-Australian veteran of the twentieth century. Catherine is her neighbour: twenty-something and waiting for a better world. Can their unlikely friendship outlive the colossal forces of history, the inevitability of death, and a trip to the mall to see Mamma Mia?

Neighbourhood Watch is a glorious new comedy about hope, death and pets. Lally Katz wrote it for the great Robyn Nevin. It’s a classic odd-couple story: opposites attract, and from each other they gain a new understanding. But as the domestic crises accumulate, Neighbourhood Watch takes on a sense of enormity in the midst of the ordinary that would make Patrick White proud. Katz is a true original and in Neighbourhood Watch her spirit of curiosity turns optimism into an artform.

Nevin needs no introduction. Simon Stone directs this epic which questions whether we really know what is out there in the ‘burbs’.

Charlie Garber
Megan Holloway
Kris McQuade
Ian Meadows
Heather Mitchell
Robyn Nevin

Writer Lally Katz
Director Simon Stone
Set & Costume Designer Dale Ferguson
Lighting Designer Damien Cooper
Composer & Sound Designer Stefan Gregory
Dramaturg Eamon Flack
Stage Manager Luke McGettigan
Assistant Stage Managers Mel Dyer, Michael Maclean

Production Photos by Brett Boardman.

Rehearsal Photos by Heidrun Lohr.

Playwright Lally Katz and Belvoir associate director Simon Stone have created one of the most affecting works of theatre seen so far this year, one that is tender yet hard-edged.

Jason Blake | The Sydney Morning Herald

In the script, the staging and the performances, especially Nevin’s, there is magic in this production.

John McCallum | The Australian

I think you will love this heart-warming play.

Rebecca Whitton | Australian Stage

Simon Stone’s direction is perfect, elegant and extremely sophisticated.

Whitney Fitzsimmons | Stage Whispers