A young married couple move into a suburban house. They seek peace and quiet, yet the modern building in a gated estate on the edge of a forest resembles the setting of a Beckett play rather than the backdrop to a soap opera. They are the first to move in, have no neighbours, and are engulfed in a ‘terrifying silence’. Their situation provides the audience with an opportunity for a laboratory-like examination of their psychological makeup and relationship. He wants to cut himself off from people, while she longs for human contact. He attends therapy, terrifying her with his newspeak. Neither of them is doing well. They choose avoidance and isolation. The arrival of bunker builders is the answer to their predicament. The construction of a home bunker becomes a metaphor for the young couple’s growing alienation.
