The Kings Langley Players will launch their 95th anniversary season in 2019/20 with a performance that is certain to get the curtains twitching: Alan Ayckbourn’s Neighbourhood Watch.

Rehearsals are now underway for the show, which is directed by Jamie Yates. The three-show run will take place between Friday, October 17, and Sunday, October 19.

Ayckbourn’s 75th play, which was first performed in 2011, Neighbourhood Watch is a hilarious satire that follows a group of residents living in respectable suburbia who take the law into their own hands after being threatened by a crimewave.

Brother and sister Martin and Hilda Massie live together, leading a quiet, Christian existence in the confines of the Bluebell Hill development. Just as they are preparing for a house warming gathering, their peace is shattered by a young trespasser in their garden.

The Massies’ neighbours congregate in their living room and together they agree to form a neighbourhood watch group to safeguard against further incidents. But after the Massies’ beloved garden gnome Monty is thrown through their window, matters swiftly escalate, complicated by Martin’s burgeoning romance with Amy, Gareth’s wife, who was formerly involved with Luther, husband of Magda. What begins as a well-intentioned scheme for a safer community ends in violence and acrimony.

Jamie Yates, directing his second show for the Kings Langley Players, said: “I loved this show at the Watford Palace so this has been a tremendous experience; it’s going to be a wonderfully fun show.”

Performances will be held at Kings Langley Community Centre, The Nap, Kings Langley.

For tickets, visit www.klp.org.uk or call 0333 666 3366.

The Kings Langley Players first took to the stage in 1925, performing two one-act plays, and since then have continued to tread the boards every year since.

The award-winning group now boasts 55 members who take part in an annual programme of four full-length shows that aim to promote the best of theatre past and present. The line-up traditionally includes three plays and a family show, usually a pantomime, shortly after Christmas.