Spoiler alert: Props Designer Diane Almeter Jones needs some star billing for the prolific amount of stage blood she created for Irish Classical Theatre Company’s production of Crocodile Fever. It’s everywhere in the second act, in every shape, viscosity, and application. Yes, I’m the squeamish sort, so Theatre Companion had a firm grip on my one hand as my other hand sometimes popped up in front of my eyes as needed.

But there’s more to this complex story than seeing red. It’s a disturbing story about a family with more than its share of skeletons in its proverbial closet. Alannah (Cassie Cameron) is the fastidious homemaker, and caregiver for her disabled father. Her cleaning products are color-coded to correspond with particular sponges and earmarked for specific chores. She has a stash of crisps that are only eaten when she’s sad. She cops to never smoking inside, yet her cigarettes are hidden in her Bible with incense to burn to mask the scent. Yes, all this order and organization is hiding what’s deeply repressed in her past. Her sister Fianna (Anna Krempholtz) storms in after an extended estrangement and pokes at some old wounds. The setting is rural Northern Ireland in 1989, and she’s in the midst of The Troubles. Taking refuge in her family home – with its own troubles – seems…strangely right. Their bickering and fighting (another shout out to fight director Adrianno Gatto for choreographing some powerful moments) alerts their father (Christopher Guilmet), and his rather spectacular entrance adds to the ire. And that is only the first act. By the second act, the girls have worked together to even an unsettled score. This is where the play got it’s odd title: the crocodile is a metaphor for making evil disappear. The girls reason the source of their trauma is likened to a crocodile, the pain it caused can go away with the crocodile…and that’s when it gets a little weird. And bloody. J. Marc Quattlebaum created larger than life crocodile puppet that is gruesome and perfect.

Krempholtz and Cameron are fierce in their roles. Their roles are incredibly physical as well as emotionally wrenching. The shift in perspective from act one to act two – especially for Cameron – is quite extreme. Krempholtz is all over that stage, too, with strength and agility. Together, they are a force. Their contempt for their father is palpable and Guilmet has crafted a character who is pretty easy to dislike. Jake Hayes makes a brief appearance as a British soldier on a hunt.

Strangely throughout the dredged up family tragedies, there are some wickedly funny moments and memories. The girls recount their late mother’s fondness for certain pop songs of the day as they sing and dance in the kitchen. Alannah’s misunderstanding of both the lyrics and intent of the Toto song “Africa” (“I guess it rains on an apricot” is what she hears) is hysterical. Even in tumult, there is still a sisterly bond that even a chainsaw can’t break.

Crocodile Fever by Meghan Tyler is onstage to June 15. It runs a little more than two hours with a 15-minute intermission. Find tickets and details at http://www.irishclassical.com.