Give My Head Peace – familiar characters find mirth in an unreconciled society and political figures (Grand Opera House until Saturday 30 March)

The Hole in the Wall Gang are back and the audience know what to expect from the familiar characters and giddily revel in the banter. Give My Head Peace’s simple set – a sofa, a coffee table from a well-known Swedish emporium, and a dining room table – is accented with red/white/blue and green/white/orange lighting as the action flits between different sides of the community.

The Reverend Bobby Begbie (brother of the incapacitated Pastor Begbie who seems to have taken the name of his local Kneebreakers social club a little too literally) is having a crisis of faith and is troubled by God turning out to be more Catholic than Protestant. Marty Maguire ably steps into the Paddy Jenkins’ clerical shoes and has great fun bringing another thuggishly religious Begbie to life. Ciaran Nolan returns as Sandy the loyalist drinking den landlord. Their first song – the Wee Wee Blues, rhyming Sash with slash – gets the audience swaying with approval.

As the first act continues, we meet Da (Tim McGarry) and Cal (Damon Quinn), Dympna (Alexandra Ford) and Billy (Michael McDowell), and finally Ma (Olivia Nash). Da and Ma are still fighting the bit out. Dympna has had Kenough of hard work as an MLA and is rather enjoying the institutions being down. Cal is perturbed when he walks in on Da getting his leg over a petite blonde woman on the sofa.

It turns out that there are plenty of jokes that can still be squeezed out of the sectarian sponge, and while you may end up judging yourself for laughing at the simplistic stereotypes, the gang of writers also occasionally choose to play with expectations and ever-so-gently bend traditional tropes to challenge the status quo. But blink and you could miss it. The audience reward gags about Free Stayto, Paddy Kielty, Kneecap, Nolan, Jim Allister, Shane MacGowan and Gerry Adams, touts, more touts, and numerous mentions of Jeffrey and Jamie. The SDLP, Alliance and the Greens are nowhere to be seen. The political punchbags are Sinn Féin, the DUP and occasionally the UUP’s Robin Swann. By the end of the second act, we’ve had 25 minutes of topical stand-up from McGarry that includes a history lesson about Roger Casement, a spot of not-all-it-seems-adultery, and a surprisingly familiar new team heading up the Northern Ireland (I mean, Occupied Six Counties) Executive.

Hecklers: beware. You’re unlikely to be original enough not to receive solid pushback from the experienced team on stage. While the unreconciled divisions in society are a rich seam to mine, the possibility of an Irish Sea border and the characters of Jim Allister and Jamie Bryson provide the subject matter for the catchy songs to close to each act.

The Give My Head Peace 2024 tour finishes in the Grand Opera House on Saturday 30 March.

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