The Snapper – there’s a baby on the way and for young Sharon, her times they are a-changin’ (Bardic Theatre at Lyric Theatre until Saturday 20 September)

The Snapper follows nine months in the lives of the Rabbitte family. Roddy Doyle’s original 1990 novel – the second in the Barrytown trilogy, in-between The Commitments and The Van – was subsequently adapted into a film and then this stage version. Bardic Theatre have assembled a talented cast to bring the much venerated story to life on the stage of the Lyric Theatre this week.

Twenty-year-old Sharon (played by Brianna McGuikin) is at the beating heart of the play. She lives at home with her parents and three younger siblings in a working class area of Dublin. Her announcement that she’s pregnant is greeted with such nonchalance that her dad invites her to join him in the pub. She swerves questions about who the baby’s father might be, eventually spinning a yarn that it was the result of a drunken one-night stand with a Spanish sailor. But the local gossip reckons the truth lies closer to home.

The most joyful aspects of this production of The Snapper come in the shape of the interrupting twins (Aniah Donnelly and Caoimhe Brady on press night, who beautifully mimic their father’s swearing), an offstage barking dog with impeccable timing, father Jimmy’s gradual change (Brian Mills) from a naive man who can’t see what’s staring him in the face and is always on the verge of heading out to the pub to a modern man in touch with women’s feelings and wannabe birthing doula, and the moments when mother Veronica’s stoic persona (Dawn McCord) snaps and she lashes out, verbally and at one point violently. With an excellent sense of comic timing, McCord triggers some of the best laughs in the production.

Peter Cunningham plays local football coach George Burgess, a man who is having a destructive mid-life crisis, while his savvy but confrontational wife Doris (Mary O’Neill Turkington) is the first one to piece together what’s been happening.

Stuart Marshall’s set has clearly delineated areas for the Sharon and the twin sisters’ bedrooms, a kitchen/living room, and space to one side that is transformed in seconds into the pub. The speed of the scene changes keeps what could be a very long play moving along at a brisk pace.

While Doyle’s script is littered with witty lines, this production’s physicality elicits so many extra chuckles, for instance when props (like a bent bicycle wheel) appear even before the associated dialogue is uttered, or whenever a family member runs in one door and out the other. Bugsy Mc Mahon’s direction has a lightness of touch and successfully integrates the younger cast into the full production (with similar success to their 2024 staging of The Ferryman).

McGuikin shines brightly in every scene. She has the full measure of Sharon, giving lip to her parents that the younger kids can’t get away with, and standing up to the actual father of her unborn child, the titular ‘snapper’. (A Norn Iron translation of the play might rename it to ‘The Nipper’ or ‘The Wean’!) She’s the powerhouse of the production, along with Mills and McCord. I wish that the flashbacks Sharon sporadically hears were more distinct: it was hard to decipher what was being said and by whom.

The Snapper suffers a bit from the unusual style of the script. Some scenes have just two lines of dialogue and then they’re over. It’s a very filmic approach, but for me works less well on stage. Other scenes run long and outstay their welcome. The stage version has no room to hear the prying neighbour’s caustic commentary, and the leaving home with Jackie scenes seem almost superfluous to the overall plot. Most of this is out of the control of Bardic Theatre, its cast and director.

For me, the big question is whether The Snapper has lost its edge in 2025? The play – perhaps more than the novel – somewhat skims over the serious questions that should be asked about whether Sharon was drunk and able to consent to the intercourse that led to her being pregnant. It’s written for comedy rather than exploring the darker possibility that she was raped by a man who is boasting about his conquest. Of course, plays are of their time – Rocky Horror Show is a great example which equally thrills and troubles me – and don’t always need to be updated. Though the Rolf Harris aside in The Snapper lands well with the knowing audience.

The relentless comedy, the 1980s soundtrack, the strong sense of sitcom, and the sheer number of scenes which end with a character (though oddly never the twins!) muttering Jaysus in frustration all keep the mood light.

It’s heartwarming to see full audiences in the Lyric Theatre supporting and enjoying a well-produced and finely acted amateur production. Hopefully it won’t be long before Bardic Theatre return. The Snapper finishes its sold-out run at the Lyric Theatre on Saturday 20 September.

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