THE story of Oedipus, which depending on your point of view is a classical tragedy, a Freudian complex or a terrific Woody Allen joke, still fascinates.

In May Dublin’s celebrated Pan Pan Theatre Company will bring their hugely theatrical version of it to that shrine of downtown hipsterdom, Performance Space 122, starting on May 21 and running through June 1.

Oedipus Loves You is their wickedly funny take on the Oedipus plays of Sophocles and Seneca and Pan Pan’s performances here — the New York debut of this Dublin-based company, courtesy of Culture Ireland — are part of their highly acclaimed world tour following the show’s premiere in 2006.

Pan Pan embrace what they rightly call a punk rock sensibility, striking a fierce chord in their savvy update of Sophocles’ classic drama of the ultimate dysfunctional family. As bitingly satrical as it it is funny, expect to laugh and then squirm as this crowd of artistic chancers take you right to the edge and then headlong over it.

Director Gavin Quinn, 38, has no doubt about why the Oedipus myth casts as strong a spell today as it did over the ancient Greeks. Speaking

“It’s a warning play. It shows you how truly bad things can get. It reminds you that there’s a darkness in all of us howling for release. And it shows you what can happen when we do,” Quinn told the Irish Voice.

Despite all the bloodletting and madness, or perhaps because of it, the audience can guage the best and worst in humanity and make their own minds up about what constitutes civility.

Although Pan Pan, being decidedly modern, twists to their explorations, they still stay true to the themes of the original, perhaps more than you might first suspect. Oedipus is still counselled by the wise Tiresias, but now the blind sage is a Freudian analyst and ex-Glam Rocker. (It makes sense when you see the play).

As with the original, sexual desire runs unchecked and inter-generational tensions still seethe, but now the backdrop is the barbecue grill of Oedipus’s suburban hideaway, not Colonus. Instead of the grand speeches of Sophocles, the characters instead take up electric guitars to channel their rage in live music sessions that become group family therapy.

If it sounds extreme, it is. But then so is Greek tradgedy. The truth is that the artistic fearlessness of this group is as compelling and edgy as the material they’re exploring.

Graduates of Trinity College Dublin’s theater program, Quinn and his co-founder Aideen Cosgrove started Pan Pan back in 1991 to make work in a more contemporary European theater style, rather than stay true to the literary theater of Ireland.

“We developed into an international touring company and we do work that is highly visual, rather than classic theatre. With this play wrtiter Simon Doyle and I take on the classic texts and we try to present a contermporary version of it set in suburbia. Our version takes place as a family therapy session where Oedipus discovers he’s been sleeping with his mother,” he says.

That kind of unexpected information would bring anyone’s day to a screeching halt, and Pan Pan mine the play’s humor as much as the tradgedy.

“What’s interesting is how a story like Oedipus survives for 3,000 years. If you analyse these things you can find versions of the Oedipus myth in hundreds of stories,” says Quinn.

“It seems to be all pervasive and its very particular in its relationship to familys. It reminds us to be careful, to watch the extremes of our own behavior. Before you know it you can be in the red zone where terrible things happen.”

Civilization is the exercise of control over our baser instincts. Or at least, it often is. Social systems and agreed accecptable behavior are the masks that make society possible, and tradgedy follows when those masks slip.

“We all have to accept that there are instances when the mask slips, particularly in familes. We all have to try to deal with them as best we can,” offers Quinn.

“Therapy can help us address these difficult issues or it can be a way of just excusing our own bad behavior. This play allows us to make a huge mess and then stand back from it and see if we can learn anything about ourselves.”

Oedipus Loves You will play at Performace Space 122, located at the corner of First Avenue and 9th Street in New York. For tickets call 212-352-3101.