John Godber's play Our House, which first appeared in 2001, has a broad sweep taking in everything from the miners' strike of the mid-eighties to the disintegration of modern society on contemporary housing estates.

But the piece, which plays at the Devonshire Park until Saturday, is disappointing and despite rallying well in the final scene it often struck me as the kind of writing that Alan Bennett might churn out on a bad day and reject.

At times the dialogue flounders under the combined strain of the cast's woeful Yorkshire accents while too often Godber simply shoehorns his sociological message into the text. The writing is far removed from that found in the author's Bouncers which is the most frequently performed play in the English language.

The structure of the piece is neat; it uses a circular narrative technique over 45 years in which flashbacks form the main action and all but a few characters are imagined by Jacqueline Naylor who is about to move out of her council house and spend her final years in Spain.

Juxtaposing a warring but ultimately compassionate family group with a truly dysfunctional one in the background is another deft piece of stagecraft.

The outstanding performance is from Annmarie Hosell who doubles up as a ghastly media type and a true neighbour from hell.

But the merits of this play are slight: outstanding incidental music ranging from Aretha Franklin to Cole Porter, a closely observed set and a teasing drip feed of information as the plot progresses.

Quite why Hull Truck Theatre has chosen to revive the piece and tour it nationally is beyond me.