The drama’s power is fully realized in this staging directed by Ciarán O’Reilly with an effective buildup to the shattering climax. The company, with its customary dependability, has assembled a superb cast that milks every bit of the drama inherent in O’Casey’s play set in 1920 during the Irish war for independence and first staged by the Abbey Theatre in 1923.

Charlie Corcoran’s scenic design of an impoverished flat in a poor section of Dublin is the setting for the looming tragedy in which persons not connected to the battle become victims through circumstances that emphasize harrowing aspects of the costly fight for independence.

James Russell is convincing as the aspiring poet Donal Davoren, who diligently struggles to compose his poems of romance and foreboding. He is unduly suspected of belonging to the IRA—not true—but being a romantic figure gives him an aura that appeals to a pretty young resident in the building, Minnie Powell, charmingly and flirtatiously played by Meg Hennessy.

Donal rooms with the blustery but nervous Seumas Shields (Michael Mellamphy), whose business partner, Maguire (Rory Duffy), drops off a bag that later turns out to contain explosives. When raiders terrorize and search the neighborhood, Minnie volunteers to hide the bag in her flat on the assumption that a young woman would not be bothered. By that time, we can assume how wrong she will be.

O’Casey dramatizes the growing horror and the shame that envelops Donal in the face of the outcome. The oustanding cast also includes Úna Clancy, Terry Donnelly, John Keating, Robert Langdon Lloyd, Ed Malone and Harry Smith.