Review: THE GIRL NEXT DOOR, New Vic Theatre Staffordshire

It’s Summer 2020, and like most people Rob is stuck at home with nothing to do, except relive his glory days as an actor and keep his sensible older sister company.  Then one night, Rob spots a stranger in next door’s garden hanging out the washing, but the neighbours haven’t been around for months.  So who is she?  And why is she wearing 1940’s clothes?

The Girl Next Door is Ayckbourn’s 85th full length play and it doesn’t disappoint.

We begin with talk of Zoom meetings and being dressed half for the office and half in pyjama’s, the standard stereotypical ideas of 2020.  Then Rob (Bill Champion) spots Lily (Naomi Peterson) in the garden and decides to discover who she is and what she is doing next door.

It’s both an entertaining and amusing piece.  We are intrigued by both character’s stories and wonder how they can exist at the same time.  With splendid set design by Kevin Jenkins, we are effortlessly transported to Lily’s 1942 or Rob’s 2020.  There are simple comparisons between items in their kitchen’s, (washing machines, kettles, etc), how the tea is made (teabag in a mug to tea leaves in a teapot, drunk from a cup and saucer), the garden with a vegetable patch as opposed to a lawn, all adding to the feel of the piece and the story.  There is a particularly nice moment when Lily mistakes the garden security light for a wartime search light and drops to the floor out of sight.

Opening a window in time through the garden hedge is a simple metaphor and could be interpreted in many ways.  In simple terms, Lily accepts that during wartime, a man from the future is “just another thing to deal with”.

The performances are strong all round and you quickly begin to wonder: how would we react to suddenly finding ourselves in a time we have only read about in history books?  Would we be tempted to change the timeline to save people?

The conclusion is heart-warming, with the play being a subtle reminder that no matter how hard we thought we had it in lockdown, it was nothing compared to living through a World War.

Emotionally immersive, riveting and alluring.  A must see!

***** 5 Stars

Reviewed by: Rachel Louise Martin

The Girl Next Door plays at The New Vic Theatre, Stoke-On-Trent until 18 September. For more information and to book tickets, please click here.