It’s far from plain sailing for actress Sarah Parish as she speaks to Hannah Collisson about her role in Alan Ayckbourn’s Way Upstream

The first production of Chichester Festival Theatre’s 2015 season looks set to make a splash, literally.

Way Upstream by Alan Ayckbourn will see the stage intentionally flooded to create what has to be one of the most technically difficult sets in theatre.

This production stars Sarah Parish, who has also recently starred in the BBC’s fantasy adventure series Atlantis and BBC comedy W1A with Hugh Bonneville and Jessica Hynes.

Making her Chichester debut, she appears alongside Jason Durr, Peter Forbes, Jill Halfpenny and Jason Hughes.

“This is only the third time I think the play has been professionally staged and it is interesting because it was written at a stage of Ayckbourn’s career where he was starting to look in a different direction as a director,” says Sarah.

“It starts off with a ‘two couples’ scenario, very jolly, but halfway through the second act it goes to a very different, much darker place.”

The play tells the story of four old friends who take two weeks off work to go on a cruise up the River Orb.

Relationships become frayed before the ignition key is even turned, and waters get even choppier when the troubled crew bump into enigmatic seadog Vince and his bohemian friend, Fleur. This is an exposé of the murky depths that lurk beneath the surfaces of friendship, desire and power.

The Festival Theatre stage will be transformed into a river complete with life-sized boat, and all of the action takes place on board.

Sarah plays June, who she describes as “pretty ghastly”.

“She’s the wife of Keith who owns a factory where they are both directors.

“She is one of those people who are never happy with their lot and she has very high expectations and aspirations which it is impossible for Keith to meet.

“June would have liked to have gone into showbusiness, but she obviously didn’t.”

The fact that June is such a vulgar character particularly attracted Sarah to the role she explains.

“I very rarely get to play parts like this on TV.

“I have recently played quite still, contained people and it is quite nice to play somebody more outspoken.”

Once the actors are on board, there is almost no getting off, which provides its own challenges.

“We do spend lots of rehearsals in fits of laughter,” says Sarah. “We are all in our 40s or 50s and are acting in spaces the size of a kitchen table.

“We are on the boat for the entire play; Peter Forbes [who plays her husband Keith] manages to get off the boat, but the rest of us are stuck on the boat the entire time.

“It is a challenge having it all happen in very tiny spaces.”

Sarah adds that they are all hoping to be allowed off briefly during the interval for refreshments and comfort breaks.

“It is a very tricky play technically; it was first performed back in 1981 and it seems it had one of the longest technical periods of a play anywhere,” says Sarah.

“We have created a bit of a hydraulic system, and we are going to flood the stage at Chichester – what could go wrong?”

When the play premiered in the West End it made headlines for the wrong reasons due to technical problems during rehearsal including the bursting of the water tank which flooded the National Theatre.

“We know the history of the play, and are really keen to make it work,” adds Sarah.

Sarah is an actress with an impressive list of theatre and television credits across all genres including Cutting It, Much Ado About Nothing, while film roles include The Holiday, The Wedding Date and Parting Shots.

The second series of BBC Two mockumentary W1A, a comedy set at the BBC headquarters in London, in which Sarah plays Anna Rampton, head of output, returned to television screens last week.

Filming took place earlier this year and Sarah says: “It is very, very funny,” says Sarah.

“More of the same japes and general ridiculing of the BBC – I think it is funnier than the last series.”

For Sarah’s character Anna there is more drama to negotiate including the prospect of Wimbledon being poached by Sky, a possible promotion, and a royal visit.

Several events held at Chichester Festival Theatre accompany Way Upstream, providing the opportunity to meet some of the cast and crew.

Director Nadia Fall and writer Alan Ayckbourn will be in conversation with author and broadcaster Paul Allen on Monday, April 27 at 5.45pm. Tickets are free but advance booking is essential.

Join the technical crew, cast and creative teams for 90 minutes of insight, demonstration and discussion on the making of a production on Thursday, May 7 at 10.30am. Tickets are £5.

There will also be the chance to meet some of the Way Upstream company at a post-show discussion hosted by author Simon Brett on Monday, 11 May.

Way Upstream is at the Festival Theatre, Chichester, from April 23 to May 16. Tickets are available from £10.

To book, go to cft.org.uk or contact the Box Office on 01243 781312.