Three cheers for pugilistic drunken Irishmen and the infinite literary possibilities their familial melodramas have offered writers for centuries now. The Lonesome West, now playing at Hyde Park Theatre, is a recent example. The play has nothing to do with Marfa or Alpine, so don't let the title fool you. This is another piece by British playwright Martin McDonagh, who also penned The Pillowman, which played last year at HPT.

Compared to Pillowman, Lonesome West is almost sitcom light, but remember, that's only by comparison. Set in an Irish village where murder, suicide, and alcoholism are as common as eating and breathing, the play is full of incite—yes, with a "c"—as in the two main characters, Coleman Connor (Jude Hickey) and his brother Valene (Benjamin Summers) spend just about the entire show pissing off each other in increasingly creative ways.

Coleman and Valene—the former a horny slacker, the latter a religious-statue-collecting tightwad—live together furiously in the home their father left behind upon his sudden death. The cast is rounded out by Father Welsh (Tyler Jones) and Girleen Kelleher (Victoria Sutherland). Father Welsh, whose name no one can ever seem to get right, grows more and more desperate about his inability to shepherd his village flock...or even to just keep two brothers from pounding the feckin' shit out of each other. Girleen, provider of the contraband poitin (potato moonshine) that all three men favor regardless of the hour of the day, has her sights set on making the priest's life a little less miserable.

The Catholic bashing throughout is utterly hilarious, culminating with a scene that puts forgiveness into a whole new light (a very very dark light). McDonagh's language is as simple, rich, and pure as unsweetened organic chocolate, and his biting observations make even the darkest and most taboo subjects worthy of belly laughs.

All of the actors did an outstanding job—Hickey and Summers were just marvelous at maintaining a fever pitch animosity toward one another. And, once again, Ken Webster, artistic director of HPT, director of this production, and himself an award wining actor, displays excellent taste in material and tremendous skill in directing his performers. The set and special effects kick ass, too.

The Lonesome West plays Hyde Park Theatre through March 29th. Tickets $17 (student and senior discount available) online or by calling 479-PLAY.