Who knew the image of Jackie Kennedy could be so disturbing?

The icon is central to the proceedings of The House of Yes, the dark, intriguing, and frequently funny play being staged by Washington Shakespeare Company. The piece is being done in repertory with another contemporary work, Kafka's Dick, at Clark Street Playhouse.

Dysfunctional families are hardly untapped territory for artistic exploration, but the snobby Pascals definitely have more than the usual set of quirks. Take, for example, incestuous twins, one of whom is certifiable, and both with a kinky fetish with the aforementioned Kennedys. Also, a mother so promiscuous she doesn't know who her children's parents are, and another brother who seems no more well-adjusted than his other siblings.

The House of Yes has many moments of comedy at its blackest, but it's also very much a thriller, and it is here where director Colin Hovde's production is most successful. Hovde has at his fingertips the creepy lighting effects by Andrew F. Griffin which contribute to the uneasiness, and the powerfully charged tension between Sara Barker as Jackie-O and Jason Stiles as her brother Marty. Barker's credibly unhinged, but it's her more knowing, arch moments that make her character so delicious, and Stiles gives an admirably internal performance as a man truly unable to escape his horrifying upbringing. The two are participants in what is truly a gasp-worthy conclusion, less because the work's ending is very unpredictable, but more because the production is so successful in setting the nail-biting mood.

This version has its flaws. Scenes between elisha efua bartles as Marty's fiance Lesly and Jay Hardee as Anthony, the other brother, tend to drag a bit - Hardee's a little too shrill, and bartels' reactions to the proceedings around her just don't always seem authentic (some of the fault here may fall on playwright Wendy MacLeod's shoulders. (As a sidenote, the use of the iconic song "Crazy" to open the work is a little too precious). But it's refreshing to see a work go to uncomfortable places in an artful fashion, and WSC's gutsy and never exploitative vision of that work offers much to admire.

The House of Yes runs through Jan. 13 at Clark Street Playhouse. Tickets are available online.