The dining room and lounge of a Bournemouth private hotel in the early 1950s are faithfully recreated in the excellent production of Terence Rattigan’s Separate Tables, performed in the round at Salisbury Playhouse until November 8.

The two interrelated plays, set 18 months apart, are Table By the Window and Table Number Seven.

An impressive cast is ably directed by Gareth Machin. Creative design is by Tom Rogers, lighting by Howard Hudson, sound by John Leonard and costume – in perfect tune with the period – by Henrietta Worrall-Thomson and Teri Buxton.

Carol Starks plays hotel proprietor Miss Cooper, a brisk, obliging person whose amorous liaison seems to have evaded the attention of the guests – an interesting assortment of people, chiefly of more mature age. Seated at separate tables exchanging pleasantries, they tolerate the erratic service provided by pert waitresses Doreen (Emma Noakes), Mabel (Emily Wachter) and Jean (Eleanor Wyld).

The Beauregard’s guests include holidaymakers and long-term residents, all with personal perspectives and prejudices. The play exposes flawed relationships, hopes and fears, violence, tenderness and betrayal.

Set some years before homosexuality was decriminalised, the drama reveals reactions to a male guest’s alleged impropriety on the esplanade, where he repeatedly requested a light despite having a lighter in his pocket. News reports fuel shock and wild speculation.

Engaging characters include Petra Markham as Miss Meacham, and Audrey Palmer as Lady Matheson. Jane How gives a powerful performance as the autocratic Mrs Railton-Bell.

Kirsty Besterman, who plays Mrs Shankland, a waning model, in the first play, is brilliant as Mrs Railton-Bell’s unfortunate, browbeaten daughter, in the second. Robert Perkins also excels in dual roles – as Mr Malcolm, a politician who has fallen spectacularly from grace, and Major Pollock, who fabricates a past others may challenge. Graham Seed, (best known as Nigel Pargetter in The Archers) is Mr Fowler, a lonely retired schoolmaster who yearns for a phone call or visit from an ex-pupil. Mawgan Gyles is the youthful Charles Stratton.