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.