THERE are two rules in the life of Wakefield stand-up comedian and character actress Nalika de Silva. “Drink tea,” tips her carefree Sri Lankan father. “Make lists,” advises her outspoken Yorkshire mother.

Armed with this parental wisdom, Nalika moved to London to “make it”, but she ended up living with a violent squirrel, as she recalls in her one-woman show at The Basement, City Screen, York tomorrow night.

Nalika has turned her experiences into Me, Bill Nighy And The Goblin, a coming-of-age tale about what happens when big dreams are confronted with reality while trying to succeed in the acting world.

Tales of squirrel attacks, resting jobs, Bollywood dancing and running into actor Bill Nighy pepper her account of moving from Yorkshire to London, as she brings to life the funny, odd and frankly bizarre characters she meets along the way.

Directed by Chicago-born comedian Cynthia Levin, Nalika first performed the show at last summer’s Edinburgh Fringe and later at the Camden Fringe and Manchester Women’s Comedy Festival.

Still based in London, despite that pugilistic squirrel, she appears regularly in comedy venues across the capital and beyond, including the Comedy Café and The King’s Head in Crouch End, and she also hosts her own comedy night, Shake The Tree Comedy, at the Highbury Arts Club.

So, in a nutshell, how would Nalika define the difference between Yorkshire and London?

“The main differences are that in Yorkshire there are houses, in Yorkshire you can use the phrase ‘butty’ and in Yorkshire you can stand still on the escalator without being thought of as insane,” she says.

And what are there instead of houses in London? “Rooms without curtains,” Nalika clarifies, before setting off to the north for tomorrow’s 8pm show at the outset of her nationwide tour.

Tickets for the 8pm show cost £5 at thebasementyork.co.uk or on the door.