Gamm Theatre’s Artistic Director Tony Estrella is a fan of Irish playwright Martin McDonough’s dark humor, having previously introduced him to Rhode Island audiences.

Director Judith Swift has made the play even darker, working with set designer Michael McGarty to present an eerie graveyard and small room setting where four volatile characters interact in very strange ways.

Mick Dowd (Jim O’Brien) is a gravedigger whose job it is to dig up the bones of the deceased every seven years to make room for more corpses in the tiny Irish village of Leenane, Connemara. Coincidentally, his wife died seven years ago, and townspeople have been “casting aspersions” ever since.

We meet Mick sitting around his fireplace drinking as he is visited by Maryjohhny Rafferty (Wendy Overly). They engage in hilariously dark conversation, which appears to go nowhere until her grandson Mairtin (Jonathan Fisher) appears.

There’s more conversation, some humorous, some disturbing. What the heck is going on?

The scene shifts to the graveyard, where the two men are digging up bones and skulls and putting them in a sack. They are visited by Mairtin’s older brother (Steve Kidd), the local policeman who dreams of being a detective but isn’t all that bright.

The play revolves around the mystery of Mick’s wife’s death, with the gravedigger looking more and more guilty of murder and cover-up.

That’s about it for the story, a synopsis that would not have me running to buy tickets. But wait. That’s not what makes this play a must-see hour and a half of uninterrupted theatre. Number one reason is the staging. McGarty has created a small, confining room that pulls you into the character’s dialogue. The language is so clever, banal and funny that you may miss a few lines because of the loud laughter.

The two gravesites are so realistic they become characters in the play, as the men dig for the bones.

The expression “Smashing Skulls” will never be the same to me again, as Mick and Mairtin go to town, causing some concern for those sitting in the front row. One scene drew a collective groan from the audience, involving a head wound. I won’t tell you any more, except to say that the makeup was deserving of an Academy Award.

The main reason for seeing this play is the superb acting of all three characters.

Wendy Overly was born to play Maryjohnny Rafferty. She has the brogue, the movements and the persona that makes you crave for her return when she leaves the stage.

I’ve watched Jonathan Fisher grow from small to big roles at Cranston’s Epic Theatre, to a great part at Warwick’s Ocean State Theatre, to an amazing performance as a young, slightly disturbed Irishman at Gamm.

Steve Kidd and Jim O’Brien are both pros who can get the most out of any character they play, and they certainly do in this one.

Put it all together and you get one heck of a production at Gamm. We’ve come to expect nothing less.

“A Skull in Connemara” is at Sandra Feinstein Theatre, 172 Exchange St. in Pawtucket, through March 27. Call 723-4266 for reservations. Tickets are $41 and $49.