Elisabeth Vincentelli

Elisabeth Vincentelli

Theater

For a chosen few, feuding is fun

Let the games begin! “Bad Jews” is packed with so many vicious arguments that sometimes you want to press your hands over your ears and block out the bickering.

Luckily, those fights are also gleefully entertaining.

Equal parts brains and brawl, Joshua Harmon’s play isn’t a textbook comedy of hostility but a smart, divisive conversation starter. There’s even a board near the exit where theatergoers can take sides via Post-its.

It’s hard to choose, though, because the combatants are equally annoying.

First cousins Daphna Feygenbaum (Tracee Chimo) and Liam Haber (Michael Zegen) have never liked each other. She’s an observant Jew, he’s not, and she’s still steamed about his eating shortbread cookies after a seder.

But a new issue makes the mutual hatred go nuclear.

The pair are feuding over their late grandfather’s chai, a small piece of jewelry that Poppy managed to hide through years in a concentration camp.

The near-fanatical Daphna — who changed her name from Diana, and plans to move to Israel after graduating from Vassar — believes it’s only natural that the chai go to her.

Problem is, Liam wants it as well, even if the pendant doesn’t mean that much to him personally: He’s planning to give it to his blond, shiksa girlfriend, Melody (an apple-pie-sweet Molly Ranson), as an engagement present.

With neither giving an inch, most of the show is devoted to violent, profane disputes between Daphna and Liam. Harmon’s sneakiest move is that their arrogant selfishness clouds the valid points they do make once in a while.

Stuck in the middle are Melody and Liam’s placid younger brother, Jonah (Philip Ettinger). They try to be as innocuous as possible but can’t help being hit by flying shrapnel.

You need a great cast to make you interested in these people, and Daniel Aukin’s taut production certainly has it.

Chimo is just as terrific as she was in “Bachelorette,” where she played a mean alpha girl. With her unruly mane and judgmental gaze, her Daphna is a modern Medusa, the snake-haired monster of Greek mythology whose stare turned men to stone.

“Don’t talk to her,” the usually mellow Melody warns Liam. “Don’t even look at her.”

For his part, Liam is all snarky entitlement, connecting with his roots only when it suits him.

All four actors are in great sync, moving with choreographed precision on Lauren Helpern’s realistic reconstitution of a cramped studio apartment. It feels as if we’re right there with them, horrified by this explosion of bad behavior — and laughing our heads off.