by Dave Ross
Neighbours is billed as a comedy/physical theatre piece, with elements of comedic tension. I didn’t find it as such. RAYVAN (Mirian Katrib) is a Classified Learner who has been taken in for interrogation and she cannot fathom why she is being interrogated. The dialogue of the play is heavy in the use of alternate language—eating is gourmandizing, time is measured in cycles, and almost everything is a Proper Noun. This introduces a slightly unsettling barrier in understanding, which in turn produced a very effective unsettling feeling for the viewer.
The plot reference many concepts that we as a population struggle with today—the blind interrogation of RAYVAN without cause is a nod to Guantanamo Bay, the Freedom Act a reference to the Patriot Act, and the neighbouring territory is an anagram of Canada. There are certainly comedic elements, but they are far outweighed by the distress we feel for RAYVAN, held against her will for crimes she can’t fathom, being moved from location to location without reference, and being unable to declare her innocence. It is clear that the interrogators have decided she is guilty.
