Want to see talented women relish a raunchy, foul-mouthed script? Skip Bridesmaids and buy a ticket to Theater Schmeater’s Reservoir Dolls.

The all-female cast (well, almost—there’s a policeman in there too) delivers an ironic makeover of Quentin Tarantino’s 1992 macho cult classic Reservoir Dogs. With the exception of some colorful gender-inverted expletives, the adaptation by Erika Anne Soerensen (who plays Ms. Pink and is a darn sight prettier than Steve Buscemi) is a blow-by-blow replica of the drama about a jewel heist gone horribly awry.

Tarantino-style violence is difficult to pull off in a theater as intimate as Schmeater’s. Realistic fist-fights are simply harder when the audience is five feet from the action. But if you can suspend your inner critic, you can enjoy these femme fatales punching, slapping, kicking, and shooting each other with commendable gusto. The production has a designated Bloodmaster (Julia Griffin), an indication of how much red goo ends up on stage.

From the uneven cast, Ms. White (Christine White) and Ms. Blond (Lisa Viertel) are clear standouts. Husky-voiced White has an expert grasp on dark humor. When Ms. Pink asks her, “Is it bad?” a blood-drenched Ms. White deadpans, “As opposed to good?” And Ms. Blond is simply terrifying. With her cowboy boots, slow saunter, and psychopathic stare, she comes off as a sexy cross between Annie Oakley and Hannibal Lecter. Her torture scene with the policeman (Ben Burris) confirms that a shoe-string production can induce just as many creepy crawlies as a blowout like ACT’s gruesome The Lieutenant of Inishmore.

Is there a woman-power message behind the mayhem? Not really. But it tweaks your brain a little; there’s something necessarily—if subtly—different about watching women (rather than men) discuss the true meaning of Madonna’s “Like a Virgin.” Different, but no less entertaining. The point: Women can perform these violent, expletive-laden roles with as much conviction and crudity as the guys.

Reservoir Dolls is at Theater Schmeater through June 18.