Dramatically speaking, "The Cripple of Inishmaan" by Martin McDonagh has it all -- real characters, fluid dialogue, humor, suspense and humanity. Add to that a superlative production featuring a bravura cast and you've got a fine Irish whiskey of a show with the smoothest kick this side of the Atlantic.

The brogue takes some getting used to but if anything, it forces you to concentrate a little harder on the dialogue which McDonagh crafted exquisitely. The charmingly offbeat work is delivered by a sensational ensemble of nine actors -- six from Ireland and three Americans. It's a testament to the talents involved that I counted four solid plot twists, outlandish as they might seem anywhere else, they make perfect sense in this backward outpost.

In a nutshell, Inishmaan is a tiny island off the coast of Ireland where familiarity surely breeds contempt. The year is 1934. Everyone knows each other and nothing is sacred. The title character known as Cripple Billy was orphaned mysteriously at birth and raised by two dotty sisters. He's bright but miserable and yearns to leave.

We also meet the town's most grating of gossips, JohnnyPateenMike, who keeps his ailing mother mercilessly drunk. Billy's got a crush on Helen, a tart bully who takes pleasure in heaping abuse on her simpleton brother and any man in her way. Finally, there's BabbyBobby, a seemingly decent fellow with a boat.

Every character is given deliciously revealing traits and they are played to the hilt. Marrie Mullen, outstanding 10 years ago in Beauty Queen of Leenane teams up with the equally fine Dearbhla Molloy, as an eccentric pair of cackling hens. David Pearse's JohnnyPateenMike and Kerry Condon's tormenting Helen are splendid. Laurence Kinlan does an inspired bit of stage business over a piece of candy. And Aaron Monaghan brilliantly captures the body and mind of a crippled young man trapped in an unforgiving time and place.