Sam Cree has been the baron of belly laughs with his gritty Belfast-based kitchen-sink drama – with a pithy black humour that has enthralled audiences for generations.

It is the story of the trials and tribulations of the Galbraith family as they prepare for a wedding in 1970 – and the great Gillaroo players gave ‘Wedding Fever’ real welly under the deft direction of Siobhan O’Brien in the Gillaroo Centre on Friday night, before a packed hall.

The only problem with Cree’s brilliant one-liners is that there are so many, and the main man, Joe Walsh – who plays the endearingly curmudgeonly father of the bride, and soccer fanatic, Alec Galbraith – makes the most of the big ones.

Walsh carries the play with power and pace, and his machinegun delivery in a Belfast accent is most convincing.

His long-suffering wife, Sadie (played by Louise Rasdale) is at her matronly best with a great stage presence.

The story is set against the background of a strike in working class Belfast.

The plot centres on Galbraith’s daughter, Myra (Louise McGowan) who is about to get married to the marvellously diffident Denis Hall, played with great sensitivity by newcomer Aaron Doherty, and they are very convincing as a couple.

Their nosy neighbour, Emily Beattie (Liz Smith) haunts their home, hungry for news – but when Myra and Denis drift in, in a fog of love, Emily says “It’s like one of those ads for dairy milk chocolate.”

Emily has loads of manic energy and can carry any scene.

Alec comes in spitting wit as he recalls the trials of courting Sadie when they were young.

“She had seven brothers and six sisters, so courting her was like courting in the High Street.”

Alec is addicted to ‘fegs’ and warns: “Having no fags is like asking a Civil Servant to stop drinking tea.”

When asked why not coffee, Alec replies: “That might waken them up.”

Enter the in-laws, Mary (Joy Graham), a bossy blonde in a beehive, and her husband, Pat (Damian McGlone) – another newcomer who says little, but is very much in the scene, and his timing was perfect.

Cree uses loads of earthy innuendo, as fussy Mary keeps repeating that “I tried it once but I didn’t like it”, with Alec retorting: “And I suppose Denis is yer only child.”

The play is pockmarked with these nuggets that trundle on at a great pace.

Debutant Killian Gilroy plays the couple’s soccer-playing son, who recovers from a sports injury, who has the hots for Myra’s bridesmaid, Kathleen Brownlee (Lisa Galligan), and his gauche efforts are quite memorable as Lisa plays a suitably perplexed Kathleen very well.

The banter between Alec and Sadie anchors the play as Sadie recalls: “He always bought me a bar of fruit and nut, and he had to do without the fags, and that was his way of telling me that he loved me.”

Alec gets in a real tizzy when it is announced that Sadie’s glamorous ‘Yank’ sister, Georgina (Frances McGloin), is arriving with her arrogant little husband, who bears the wonderful moniker of Hiram P. Kingleheifer, expertly played by Donal Monaghan.

Alec and Georgina share a mutual loathing and there are a few below the belt blows in their verbal volleyball.

In America, everything is so much bigger, as Georgina and Hiram remind Alec, who responds like a rattlesnake as he recalls some of Georgina’s amorous encounters in World War Two before she went to the big old US.

With typical ‘restraint’, he rasped: “She had more American soldiers under her control than General Eisenhower.”

Then, in a pre-wedding party, Alec and his sidekick, Willie Beattie (Ciaran Gormley) – another newcomer who has good chemistry with his ditsy wife, Emily – decide to get ‘blattered’, and more mayhem ensues.

Alec nearly destroys the wedding cake while Willie’s attempts to give Emily a perm turn into a disaster as she emerges with her blonde hair standing straight on top of her head, prompting Alec to remark: “A steamroller wouldn’t flatten it” as Emily threatens to flatten her Willie.

Alec, who is just recovering from the father and mother of a hangover, says he is “giving Willie political asylum”.

As in all Cree plays, there are moments of high farce as Sadie knits a jumper for Willie that goes down to his ankles, and Alec gives Mary Hall some “milk” that makes her quite amorous, and there are a few tender moments between Alec and his daughter, Myra, before she gets wed.

The play ends with a plethora of earthy oneliners that had the big crowd in stitches as, Alec is going to the wedding in shoes that are too small, and you can only imagine what the big day would unfold.

It was a most enjoyable three-act play, with strong performances from all the cast, and you could just feel that they were really enjoying themselves.

And so did we, the audience!

A final performance of 'Wedding Fever' will take place at 8pm on Saturday, November 9 at the Termon Complex in Pettigo.