Tonight Everything’s Going to Change promises revenge when a group of newly unemployed young professionals gather together on their last night. Thankfully the play is more nuanced than that and what they are seeking by the end isn’t simple retribution but something more sinister.

Adam O’Keeffe’s writing and direction captures a specific generation. The late- twenties, suited, (ex)-employees of city firms find a home on the stage in this production and both the strong naturalistic acting (Annette Flynn is stand-out) and observed dialogue mean it’s as if we are eavesdropping on the next table in a bar.

These are the people who graduated into a world of supposedly disposable income -“I had money I disposed of and that’s different”- whose previous financial security has left them trapped with mortgages and debt. As Patrick says he is “saddled with useless shit on my back.” This isn’t generation emigration; this is generation stuck-in-the-mud. Tonight they toast their ‘freedom’, which seems to come in a shot of Jagar.

However the plot ultimately unravels as it thickens and veers towards melodrama. We too could become complicit in a moral dilemma, but the progression of unnecessary back-stories and sentimentality removes us. More powerful is the previous suggestion that it’s easier to have a disregard for humanity while fending for ourselves then we might like to admit.

Star rating: ★★★