AS family and family gather to look back on the life of the dying George Riley, little do they know what he has in mind as a final farewell to them.

The fun-loving schoolteacher might only have months to live after being diagnosed with a terminal illness in Alan Ayckbourn’s play Life of Riley, but that does not stop the playwright delivering humour at his expense.

Riley himself does not appear in the dark comedy, only being referred to by the six characters in the story being brought to life by the Wallingford-based Sinodun Players as their spring production.

When Riley learns of his incurable disease, giving him only seven months to live, six of his friends – three couples – plan to make his last days as happy and untroubled as possible. But while they are making their best efforts on his behalf, Riley creates chaos in the lives of his friends, prompting each of the couples to question their own personal and marital relationships.

Meanwhile, he is relishing the attention and having fun, living the life of Riley. His ‘hippy Peter Pan’ off-stage persona dominates the play, with his actions resulting in complications with far-reaching consequences.

Director Graham Fyffe said: “The play really is about three marriages and the problems that arise over the years, these problems surfacing when the grim news of Riley’s demise is learnt.

“On the face of it, this might seem a deadly serious play but, being Ayckbourn, there are many amusing situations and some very funny lines.”

Fyffe has gathered a strong cast to give flesh to Ayckbourn’s characters. Peter Smithson plays Riley’s oldest and best friend Jack, a self-made successful businessman, whose Essex girl wife and former beautician Tamsin (Rebecca Cleverley) is at pains to contend with her husband’s philandering.

Mark Wilkin plays Riley’s vague and ineffectual GP Colin, whose wife Kathryn, a dental receptionist, played by Amanda Potter, finds her life disappointing and turns to drink to get her through it.

Marilyn Johnstone plays Riley’s estranged teacher wife, Monica, who feels guilty, having left him to live with widower Simeon (Mike Rowbottom, a taciturn farmer, who has difficulty understanding her and women in general. David Treadwell plays the local vicar.

Completing the cast are two girls from Sinodun Players’ junior group Encore, Eleanor Johns and Amy-Jo Hudson, who will be alternating the non-speaking role of Tilly, Jack and Tamsin’s teenage daughter.

When the play, which is set in three gardens, a farmyard and a cemetery, was first produced in 2010, Ayckbourn said he had always wanted to write a comedy that “finished with a funeral but got laughs along the way”.

That’s an ambition he certainly achieves in Life of Riley as his pen takes apart the complacency and angst of the middle classes.

And that’s not all, as in typical Ayckbourn style, the play delivers a final surprise.

The play, which had its world premiere at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, in 2010 was the 74th written by Ayckbourn.

Life of Riley is being performed at the Corn Exchange, Wallingford, from Wednesday to Saturday, April 15 to 18, at 7.45pm. Tickets are £10 from www.cornexchange.org.uk or the box office on 01491 825000.