Davie and Milo have been friends for a hundred years. Liane and Davie have been married for almost as long. Liane and Davie are due round at Milo’s for dinner at six. Milo has some news. Following the death of his wife, he wants them to meet someone new. Someone female. The night unfolds over takeaway, an abundance of red wine and a risky whisky chaser. Stories are shared, lies are told and everyone gets rather more than they bargained for.

So Young is the latest play by Douglas Maxwell, one of Scotland’s leading playwrights. His script explores the perils of ageing, the trouble with getting stuck, the wonder of new starts and the terror of confronting our own mortality. It contains two of possibly the funniest lines this reviewer has heard thus far, this Fringe, though her middle-aged empathy made her a receptive audience. The rest of the script is zippy, quick-witted and brimming with perspicacious observations about the things that get easier and the things that do (and don’t) get harder as you age.

The production is deftly directed by Gareth Nicholls with a resolutely hard working set (Kenny Miller). A strong cast with excellent comic timing sweep us along through the helter-skelter twists and turns of the plot. In some ways, all but the youngest of these characters are mourning their youth. Liane (Lucianne McEvoy) is magisterially self-righteous and loves to let her friends know what they think, maybe masking the fact that she isn’t wholly sure what she thinks herself. Milo (Nicholas Karimi) walks a nice line between cavalier optimism for his future and total devastation. And Greta (Yana Harris) serves up exactly the quantity of serene certainty that befits her youth. Davie (Andy Clark) is possibly the most sympathetic of the characters. Taken for granted by both his wife and his best friend, he at least is honest about what he’s lost.

If you’re seeking to be critical, you’ve met these characters before: the put upon husband, the strident wife, the midlife crisis mate. The spectre of the snowflake is raised by Liane and dismissed by Greta. But none of these characters feel two-dimensional. This is a bouncy, buoyant comedy, working to tight Fringe scheduling timescales, and maybe Maxwell was aiming for a light-hearted take on meeting your middle years. For all that, it’ll make you want to call up your best friend and say hi. So Young is a play with warmth and heart.

So Young is at Traverse Theatre – Traverse 1 until Sun 25 Aug (except Mon 12 & 19) at various times