Remember the controversy over “The Vagina Monologues”?

Burbage Theatre Company brings us the Rhode Island Premiere of Jen Silverman’s “Collective Rage: A Play in 5 Betties,” which uses the slang term for the female body part ad nauseum while carrying the conversation to extremes.

I sat among a young, mostly female, audience that laughed loudly and often in response to the plethora of one-liners and tall tales relating to sex and the female anatomy.

Beneath the bawdiness lies the common themes of loneliness and lack of self-worth experienced by five young ladies of various sexual persuasions.

When the five Betties get together to put on a play based on the play within a play in Shakespeare’s “A Midsummers Nights Dream,” their journeys to discover more about themselves spurt out in a variety of ways.

Betty 1 (Melissa Penick) responds to her unhappy marriage with rage.

Betty 2 (Amie Lytle) is in a sexless marriage with no friends to share her unhappiness.

Betty 3 (Daria-Lyric Montaquila) is in a lesbian relationship and wants to be somebody.

Betty 4 (Nina Giselle) loves her truck and her girlfriend.

Betty 5 (Anna Basile) is the gender-neutral owner of a boxing gym.

Put them all together and you have a nuclear bomb to explode.

Act 1 of this 90 minute 2-act play sets the scene for the explosion. At times at bit too talky and striving for bawdy laughs (which they got), the dialogue cries out with their unhappiness and insecurity at every turn.

Act 2 brings it all together with the 5 Betties experiencing this “Queer and occasionally hazardous exploration”  which is resolved in a powerful conclusion.

The acting is excellent and fast paced. The language is R rated, and this senior white heterosexual male, though feeling a bit uncomfortable among most of his audience members, got an education into how many young women view their roles in society today.

At Burbage Theatre Company, 59 Blackstone Ave., Pawtucket through April 21. Call 484-0565 for reservations.