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So much fake blood is used in the Fusion Theater Company's production of "The Lieutenant of Inishmore" that it takes two hours to clean the stage after performances.

But director Jacqueline Reid said that doesn't mean the play's not a hoot.

"Just reading it makes you laugh out loud," Reid said during a phone interview this week. "There's overt violence but along the lines of the Monty Python skit (in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail") where the two guys are lopping off arms and legs. It's that kind of thing."

Reid said Irish playwright Martin McDonagh's work rides the edge between black comedy and human tragedy.

"But I think the audience will tune in most to the comedy," she said. "There's enough comedy so that you get engaged with the characters and into a place that feels safe enough to let the more serious questions in."

The more serious questions involve the hypocrisy of violence.

"It's the kind of hypocrisy where we are so sure of ourselves we stop asking questions," Reid said. "We are literally seduced by our own convictions to the point of blindness."

She said people passionate about their cause, such as members of the Irish Republican Army, sometimes believe violence is necessary to achieve their goals, but that McDonagh's play dares to offer another view.

" 'Inishmore' is like someone tapping you on the shoulder and saying, 'Hey, it's not just about you and your convictions. You just wiped out the family next door. Is it worth it?' " Reid said.

Playwright McDonagh, 37, was born in London to Irish parents. His work includes other dark comedies such as "The Beauty Queen of Leenane" and "A Skull in the Connemara" and the dark fantasy "The Pillowman."

"The Lieutenant of Inishmore" is about a brutal Irish National Liberation Army enforcer and his violent reaction to the death of the only thing he loves — his little cat, Wee Thomas.

Reid says the play is McDonagh at his best.

"He transcends his own gifts in this one," she said. "The comedy is effortless, and he makes this a universal experience — whether you know anything about Ireland or not.

"The pacing is incredible, as well. He slowly and economically moves you through these eight people's lives and then, in the final two scenes, he throws in the boilerplate that brings all these people together, and their lives are changed forever."

Reid said the play has the power to change audience members lives forever — if that's what they're looking for.

"People who want a little more depth will think about the construction of the play and what is being said. They will think about solutions requiring simple steps forward by everyone and about taking other people's perspectives into account."

But people who are just looking for a good time will find that, too.

"It's a situational comedy," Reid said. "It's bloody but not gross. It's funny."