"THE set became so notorious that the poor little play got forgotten," wrote Alan Ayckbourn in Ayckbourn At 50, reflecting on the watery grave that befell the National Theatre production of Way Upstream in 1982.

In his first Scarborough revival of the play since its 1981 premiere, the full-scale cabin cruiser, the water and reeds of Michael Holt's set and the rain storm play their part but the play and the playing surpass them.

Ayckbourn had described Way Upstream as "another change of direction for me", not because he had decided to flood the auditorium to provide Saturday morning cinema for adults, but because it was a "much more overtly political play than I am normally known for, though most of the politics were still frankly sexual rather than Party".

More than the technical demands of a play that requires a week's set construction, he was attracted to re-launching his boat drama because "the world hasn't changed much in 22 years and certainly the people haven't".

Ayckbourn is right that it is "enormous fun" to watch a real boat on real water in real rain, but there is much more to Way Upstream than the stage effects now so much a part of West End musicals and multi-media productions. The comedy is as dark and murky as the water.

Put the English on foreign soil - or in this case the water - and the real character will come out. For English abroad, here read English afloat, as river-travel novices Keith and Alistair, partners in a novelty toy factory, take their wives on a 12-day canal journey to the ominously titled Armageddon Bridge.

Negative Alistair (Matthew Cottle) prefers the quiet life; wife Emma (Saskia Butler) is the cautious type, wearing her lifejacket at all times. Keith (John Branwell) is the self-appointed skipper, keeping one eye on the strike brewing at the factory. Wife June (Fiona Mollison), a failed showgirl in The Gingernuts, finds him boorish and loathsome.

Still blonde, still leggy, but brittle, she would welcome distraction, and it comes in the toned and tanned form of Vince (Stephen Beckett), who frees the grounded boat then (sexually) liberates the grounded June, but gradually Way Upstream turns into Cape Fear and an adult Lord Of The Flies. Even more so, when Vince introduces bird-watching earl's daughter Fleur (Maeve Larkin) to the crew, and the shifting relationships shift still more. Emotions become as naked as the euphoric final.

This is the best show of the year at Scarborough, with superb direction by Ayckbourn and outstanding performances by Cottle and Mollison in particular. Do please take to the waters.

Box office: 01723 370541.

Updated: 12:11 Friday, October 24, 2003