This play from Ireland's Druid Theatre is definitely a farce as the characters dash about the stage, in and out of doors, changing costumes, wearing bad wigs and women's clothing. But it is farce at its most bleak and existential.

Dinny (Michael Murphy) and his sons Blake (Raymond Scannell) and Sean (Tadhg Murphy) have left their home in Cork, Ireland, and live in a squalid flat in London.

They rarely venture outside for fear that the Londoners will tear these poor Irishmen apart. The exception is Sean who goes out to buy the same groceries from the same supermarket at 10am every day.

The three of them then spend the rest of their day re-enacting the story of their last day in Ireland. Dinny is the driving force behind this strange ritual, bullying them into competing for an acting trophy. Even the food Sean buys is used as a prop in the bizarre re-enactment of their family story.

Their story is their only connection to home, and is the way they deal with the alienation of the immigrant and their terrible family secret.

The direction, acting, pace and set are top-notch as the boys dash about playing multiple characters.

The action is controlled chaos and the plot of the play within the play is a tad confusing, once again emphasising this particular family's madness.

There are plenty of laughs - uneasy ones - to a soundtrack of sentimental Irish songs and songs of rebellion.

While it may not be exactly enjoyable, The Walworth Farce is admirable and provides much thought about family power play, immigration, and fashioning our own memories.

If you like theatre to challenge you, this will do it.

Australian audiences are more used to gentle or quirky Irish comedy, but this is something much more savage; more like In Bruge than Ballykissangel.

THE WALWORTH FARCE

March 10-13:

Illawarra Performing Arts Centre

Bookings: 4224 5999

or www.merrigong.com.au