If you’ve had the pleasure of attending performances at the Irish Repertory Theatre, you’ve grown accustomed to certain recurring themes and tropes in the grand tradition of Irish drama: domestic disputes that unfold in either Dublin or the remote countryside, with detours to the local pub of course, and feature the eventual revelation of long-buried family secrets. Ciara Elizabeth Smyth’s Irishtown, a wise craic-ing new comedy at the Irish Rep, is an affectionate and often hilarious riff on the genre’s many go-to clichés.

The story centers on a small Dublin theater troupe that has improbably landed the backing of an unseen New York City producer for the next show by its in-house playwright, Aisling (Brenda Meaney), a proud and prickly lesbian who’s also dating the show’s ambitious young ingenue, Síofra (Derry Girls alum Saoirse-Monica Jackson). The three-member troupe, which also includes a seen-it-all veteran actress, Constance (Kate Burton), and a man-splaining actor, Quin (Kevin Oliver Lynch), has four weeks to rehearse the new play ahead of their New York run — under the direction of a Brit named Poppy (Angela Reed) who’s apparently been sacked by London’s Royal Shakespeare Company for some #hertoo behavior with her past players. (Cue the alarm bells for Síofra and Aisling’s happily ever after.)

Things go awry almost immediately, as it becomes clear to the troupe that Aisling’s new play is a departure from her previous work in ways that are bound to disappoint Americans looking for a new Irish voice — and just as confounding to them. For one thing, it’s a courtroom drama about a sexual assault case that’s set in… England. With mostly English characters, speaking in English accents. More troublingly for the troupe, though, is the ending. As a nonplussed Constance explains, “I’ve just never been in an Irish play with a happy ending.”

Before long, Síofra goes MIA and the remaining members of the company — who are on the hook to pay back the $250,000 in advance ticket sales in New York if the production gets canceled — are scrambling to produce a new play on the fly. One that, as Quin says, “will pump the audience so full of Ireland they’ll have shamrocks coming out their noses.” This leads to a series of side-splitting spoofs of Irish classics, from flour-tossing dancing sisters lifted straight out of Brian Friel’s Dancing at Lughnasa to an absurdist Samuel Beckett parody featuring Quin’s head sticking out of a giant black urn with a bowler hat on top. Then there’s the one with the working title “Barren Landscape Incest Tragedy,” which naturally opens with some air-fiddle-playing.

They also bring out a whiteboard to workshop all the elements that audiences expect of an Irish play. “Incest is good,” Constance notes, while Síofra adds, “Alcohol, obviously. … Peasants, poor people. Pigs. Pigs in the house. … Low stone walls held together with hunger and hope. Loose sheep, wet cows.” None of this seems very plausible, to be honest, but director Nicola Murphy Dubey keeps the banter going at a fast enough clip that we don’t dwell long on the cracks in the narrative structure. And she’s aided by a wonderful cast who capture the backstage bitchiness of performers as well as the enduring let’s-put-on-a-show determination. Burton and Jackson particularly shine in roles that play off their comparative experience and ambition. As promised, the Irishtown troupe gets their happy ending. And we do too. ★★★☆☆

IRISHTOWN
Irish Rep, Off Broadway
Running time: 90 minutes (no intermission)
Tickets for sale through May 25 for $60 to $125