Probably, you have seen the Nia Vardalos film My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

Joe DiPietro's stage play, Over the River and Through the Woods, is similar in that, while it deals with a particular nationality and a specific culture -- Italian -- the truths it speaks are universal. There is also the fact that in both cases the messages are delivered with humour.

The Globe Theatre production is directed with affection by Geoffrey Whynot, who brought together six talented and experienced actors, and then got out of the way and let them do their work. And what fine work it is -- character-driven and completely believable.

At the centre of DiPietro's charming story is Nick Cristano, a 30-something, upwardly mobile designer of advertising campaigns, who, over the course of the play, discovers that it is possible to achieve personal growth and fulfilment without entirely severing the family ties that bind. That Nick is a "different" man at the end of the play than he was at the beginning speaks volumes about Andrew Scanlon's strong portrayal.

No less convincing are the performances by the actors who play Nick's grandparents, four people whose lives will be shattered, or so they think, by his proposed move from Hoboken, N.J., to Seattle, where he has been transferred.

The fiery Nunzio Cristano (Sam Moses) is passion personified; he expresses himself in a loud voice and he underscores his points with grand gestures.

His wife Emma (Valerie Ann Pearson) is delightfully outspoken and honest to a fault.

Frank Gianelli (Jerry Franken) is a subtle, more contemplative individual -- by Italian standards at any rate -- and his wife Aida (Anne McGrath) is a one-woman catering service who simply refuses to take "no" for an answer whenever she offers someone something to eat, which is every dozen lines or so in the script.

Shannon Jardine makes the most of her opportunities in the role of Caitlin O'Hare, who is invited by the grandparents to Sunday dinner in hopes that, since they themselves cannot convince Nick to stay, perhaps this young lady will.

Jardine plays Caitlin with an endearing innocence that makes her character easily underestimated. Beneath the apparently naive exterior there's a woman who is wise beyond her years.

Over the River and Through the Woods has more than enough colourful anecdotes, snappy punchlines, and physical comedy to provide its audiences with an evening of lighthearted entertainment.

And if you're looking for subtext -- well, like My Big Fat Greek Wedding, this play won't tell you anything you don't already know, but it will remind you of things you should never forget.