Consumed *****

It's Eileen’s 90th birthday party in Northern Ireland. Her daughter Gilly has gone to some trouble to make it a special occasion, including the arrival of her own daughter Jenny and granddaughter Muireann – meaning there will be four generations of women under the same roof. There are party hats, balloons and the promise of a cake. It should all pass off rather smoothly – right?

Eileen (Julia Dearden) is prickly, demanding and frankly more than a little truculent. She relentlessly browbeats Gilly. She has uncompromising views about the Ulster political landscape, scornfully using a slur to describe the Catholic population.

Gilly (Andrea Irvine) is the product of her upbringing. She feels huge societal pressure to present a good impression to neighbours, obsessing over trivial detail while a storm rages.

Jenny (Caoimhe Farren) breezes in from England, with generational and cultural schisms immediately obvious.

Muireann (Muireann Ní Fhaogáin) is an idealistic and progressive teenager, an environmental and ethical standard-bearer for her generation.

The scene unfolds with stilted familial exchanges, but multiple cracks are evident at every turn. This is an unhappy and dysfunctional family. A nagging series of questions remain unanswered. Where is Gilly’s husband? Why does Gilly retreat whenever the phone rings? Why has Jenny’s husband not made the journey? And, most troublingly, is there an undertone to Eileen’s acerbic barbs?

Gilly’s repressed emotions are central to the scenes, empowering Eileen’s dominance, fuelling Jenny’s frustration and, in turn, Muireann’s sense of injustice. Inevitably, however, the dam breaks and a series of hitherto unstated truths are revealed.

Muireann has developed an interest in epigenetics – the idea that behaviour and environment can affect which genes are prominent. In other words, trauma can be inherited through the generations without being experienced first-hand. She is seeking a cultural identity but is aware that it may come with baggage.

Tensions have simmered in Ulster for generations; the Good Friday Agreement perhaps serving merely to suppress feelings – a recurring theme. This is, of course, the backdrop to Consumed, where culturally it became ingrained to look away. The sound of silence reverberates.

This is a fine, albeit at times slightly strained, Paines Plough production. It is frequently blisteringly funny, the sharp one-liners delivered to perfection, especially by Dearden. Farren’s good intentions visibly falter, and Ní Fhaogáin’s arching search for identity is splendidly conveyed. Yet your attention constantly reverts to Irvine’s simmering repression.

Karis Kelly’s writing is sharp, layered and asks a lot of questions about violence, culture, misogyny, repression and trauma. Katie Posner’s direction is assured and gives space for the storytelling to unfold – albeit with a minor niggle around the rapidly heightened scenes as the denouement approaches.

The façade of happy families, cake and hats is breached, usually by what is not being said. Some things, though, cannot be swept under the carpet and inevitably will need to be confronted.