A RIVER, complete with cabin cruiser, has transformed Salisbury Playhouse, where 100 seats are on stage, for a superb in the round production of Ayckbourn's dark comedy, ably directed by Lucy Pitman-Wallace.

Designer Janet Bird and the creative team have achieved a technical triumph, and the ambitious set incorporates a pool pump to keep the water circulating.

Ayckbourn’s incisive observation of human nature is evident in the diverse personalities of the seven-strong cast. David Hampton plays bombastic businessman Keith, whose holiday is disrupted by reports of his discontented workforce. The play is set in the pre-mobile phone era, and loyal secretary Mrs Hatfield (Suzy Aitchison) is initially unprepared for riverbank hazards.

Keith's snooty wife June, played by Cate Harmer, loses her inhibitions wildly in the second act. June has little in common with Emma (Sally Scott), the sweet, uncomplicated wife of Keith's diffident business associate Alistair (Daniel Crowder) .

Keith is called away to cope with a strike, and as the craft bobs its way upstream towards Armageddon Bridge, a minor emergency is resolved by gallant bystander Vince, who swims to the boat and then clambers aboard.

In true Ayckbourn style, all is not as it seems. Richard Trinder as Vince and Georgina White as Fleur, his upper-crust girlfriend, have their own agenda.

The production runs until October 8