AUNTY is billed as a family BBQ, and it certainly delivers. Half the opening night crowd was clearly back again after the first season, which adds to the ‘new partner at family Christmas’ vibe for first timers. Who hasn’t met a boisterous relation and silently wondered, ‘can I laugh? Am I going to be next?’

Yes, and quite possibly.

Johanna Cosgrove does a masterful job turning the theatre into the home of the matriarch of a large, chaotic family. Much like a dinner with the eagle-eyed, filterless relative we all know, love, and fear, there’s no hiding down the back at this show.

AUNTY moves from hilarity to awkwardness to profundity with each wee glass of wine. To paraphrase Tolstoy, ‘every family is dysfunctional in its own way.’ Cosgrove will have you pondering your own family’s quirks, memories, and traditions.

AUNTY is on at BATS until Saturday 17 February. Forget to bring a plate at your own peril.