ROB Pickavance and Eamonn Fleming must be gluttons for outdoor punishment.

They are both returning to the anything but calm if comical waters of Tim Firth's Lake District endurance test, Neville's Island. Rob for the third time in five years; Eamonn for a second dip.

Tonight they take to the York Theatre Royal stage in the same roles as before: middle-management mandarins Roy and Angus, finance manager and distribution manager respectively for the Pennine Spring Water Company.

Roy, Angus, Gordon (Colin Tarrant) and Neville (John Paul Connolly) trade in office politics for a team-building exercise on Derwent Water that goes disastrously wrong. Cue a 48-hour journey to hell for four men behaving madly in the great outdoors - but comedy heaven for the audience.

Rob first played Roy five years ago at Harrogate Theatre, then again at the Bolton Octagon three years ago.

"I very rarely return to a role, though sometimes I return if I think I made a quite radical error and it's a chance to exorcise that particular ghost, and it is easier to do the second time because you can eliminate those mistakes," he says.

"But that's not the case with Roy, so I'm a bit superstitious about coming back to it, as I have nothing but good memories. In the end it comes down to a gut possessiveness: I love the role so much that when I was asked to do it in York I couldn't bear the thought of someone else doing it."

There was the prospect too of being directed by Theatre Royal artistic director Damian Cruden, with whom he always has enjoyed working.

"So I was jealous of releasing this chance to anyone else," says Rob. "While there's a certain degree of familiarity with the role that you can't ignore there are bound to be new aspects to it.

"It can never be a repeat, a carbon copy. You don't just go through what you went through last time. The style and personality and views of the director affect that, and then there's the dynamic of a different cast and that affects the way you relate to each other."

Eamonn first played Angus in 1994 or 1995 - he is not sure which - at Salisbury as part of a young cast. "At the time I was a bit young for it; well, I felt that was the case. They took a chance with the casting, as we were all young, so it did kind of work," he says.

Not everything worked with that production, however.

"The design was massive: it was as if a huge chunk of the Lake District had been dropped on stage, but it had to be re-done because it was too difficult to play on. It wasn't the designer's fault as such; when we arrived on stage we found all the blocking we'd done in rehearsal didn't work," he says.

Eamonn believes his performance in York will benefit from his added maturity.

"I've noticed the things I missed last time. At first sight Angus could be seen as just a bumbling idiot but there's more to him than that. It's been interesting to look back at my younger self and see what I missed out.

"When I got the role in Salisbury, it was a big break for me; I'd only done small-scale shows since leaving college, and although I wasn't overwhelmed by it, I did miss a few tricks."

Rob stresses that Neville's Island may be tough going emotionally and physically for Firth's characters but for audience and performer alike it is enjoyable.

"All four characters are made to face things about themselves that they wouldn't have chosen or expected to face - and for Roy the stakes are particularly high as he's recovering from a nervous breakdown - but for the people watching there's a huge thrill in seeing the Lake District landscape in November in their theatre," he says.

"We may have made it sound like hell but for the audience it's hilarious watching people go through it. I can't think of anything funnier than Neville's Island."

Eamonn, meanwhile, is grateful that he will be splashing about in water in summer rather than winter this time.

"In Salisbury, we did it in November, and they had problems with heating the water, so there was no need for acting," he recalls. "It really was cold."

Neville's Island, York Theatre Royal, tonight until June 28. Box office: 01904 623568.

Updated: 10:10 Friday, June 06, 2003