"MAN up!" Tobes' soon to be ex-girlfriend frustratedly tells him, as the opening scene of Growth unfolds and it is curtains for the couple of just two years.

Tobes, played by a bloodshot Luke Norris (who also happens to be the playwright) works in a garden centre, is perpetually behind on his rent and has ignored a lump on his left testicle for the past two years.

Part of the Brewery Arts' Roundabout festival, in this 70 minute, three person play, 'manning up' is explored cleverly, if at times a little heavy handedly through the shorthand of football and sex. Man up and commit, man up to find a rebound on a dating app, man up to go to the doctor, man up to live with just one ball, man up to talk about your feelings. Being a man, Tobes learns, is a little more complex than he had initially imagined.

The other two actors in the play take on multiple roles - changing their names and their stories with just two flicks of the main lights. Scenes are short and punchy, pushing the plot forwards and forcing the audience to get quickly acquainted with their place in Tobes' life.

And, of course, it is funny. The 70 minutes is filled with witty one-liners and joyful puns (that really, how could Norris avoid when testicles are such a major plot point?) that were rewarded with plenty of big belly laughs. But, as well as that, it is thoughtful and at times heart-wrenching - even, dare I say it for a play about balls, a little bit life affirming.

Tobes does, of course, face his fear of going to the doctor and baring all - spurred on by a girl he meets on Tinder. And if we take away none of the nuance that Norris offers about life as a modern man, then at the very least let us take away this: feel a lump? Man up and go and get it seen, before it is too late.