Night Light by Tom Chandler & Maeve O'Haire. Upstairs at the Gatehouse, 1 North Road, Highgate Village, London N6 to 10 June 2023. 4****. William Russsell.

The enterprising Giggle Riot Theatre have come up with a very funny tale of three twenty somethings who flat share - they are all in dead end jobs - and have not quite grown up. The night light belongs to Robyn (Maeve O'Hare) who uses it as a comfort object, is prone to outbursts of temper and is actually in love with Rian (Jack McLaughlin), a dishy 26 year old working in a call centre and oblivious to that whose girlfriend Laura (Lydia Hapgood), child of well off parents, is about to toss a bombshell into the midst of the trio, the third member of which, Randy (Tom Inman) suffering from writer's block, has heeded their advice and is writing about what he knows. Rian's problem is that at 26 he doesn't feel he is ready for fatherhood. The result is chaos all round and seeing how that night light finally gets passed on is diverting to say the least and director Chandler has seen to it that things move at speed. Maybe a little more clarity in diction would help - some of the screaming matches tend to blur a bit and the joke gets lost - but the cast go to it with a will. By the end the triemight just have all grown up a little bit if not completely - Laura (Lydia Hopgood), coping nicely with this nest of not quite newly hatched chicks, is already there. I really didn't get the nerf gun joke which runs through it but I have not seen a nerf before so that explains that. Night Light is amusing diversion which could be seen as a work in progress but is undeniably getting there.

Randy - Tom Inman; Robyn -Maeve O'Hara; Rian - Jack Mclaughlin; Laura -Lydia Hopgood.

Director - Tom Chandler; Set Design - Louis Chandler; Production Photographer - Rory McLaughlin.