Taking risks with Shakespeare's most famous play pays off in SIR's Hamlet … mostly

A theatre company has two choices with the best-known play in the English language: either do it very carefully or take a few chances and try to do something new.

Opening not with frightened guards in a Danish castle and a ghost, but with the strains of a heartfelt version of Simple Minds' Don't You (Forget About Me) and the words "Boozhoo, tansi, welcome," it's clear Shakespeare in the Ruins' latest production of Hamlet opts for the latter approach.

The risks the production takes include a gender twist on the famed title prince, commanded by his father's ghost to seek revenge on the brother who's murdered him and taken both his throne and his wife.

While not all of the risks pay off, enough do that it's an engaging and entertaining take on Shakespeare's most famous play.

The melancholy Dane is played by Heather Russell-Smith in director (and newly minted SIR artistic director) Rodrigo Beilfuss's production. It's not a female Hamlet, exactly — "he" pronouns are still used, along with references to "son" and "prince" — nor is Russell-Smith a female actor trying to play a man.

Rather, it's a more gender fluid take (Beilfuss describes it as "gender occupying" the role) that seems to suggest the duality of Hamlet — he is a complex character and a prince of contradictions.

That makes Hamlet a brutally demanding role, and Rusell-Smith meets it with mixed success.

She does a marvellous job of conveying a manic weirdness as Hamlet puts on his "antic disposition" (there's the definite sense here his madness is not entirely an act). She also handles some of the most famous speeches in theatre history — like the "to be or not to be" soliloquy — with a delicate grace.

At other points, though, her brooding Hamlet feels just a little bit too "emo," and there's sometimes an actorly intensity to her performance that shows too much of the performer working behind the role.

The supporting cast behind Rusell-Smith also ranges.

Skye Brandon steals scenes with his smarmy, smooth take on the murderous King Claudius (and delivers one of the production's highlights with his confessional "my offence is rank" soliloquy).

Nan Fewchuk is less successful, though, as Hamlet's mother, Queen Gertrude, never quite seeming to settle on a strong take on the character.

In another gender twist, Polonius — the verbose advisor who dispenses wisdom such as "to thine own self be true" and the ironic "brevity is the soul of wit" — becomes Polonia here. Melanie Whyte's thoughtful take on the character makes her more a busybody mother than a buffoon — and a more sympathetic character in the process.

Whyte also gives a fine turn as a gravedigger in the play's most comedic scene, along with Steven Ratzlaff. He's excellent as the quick-witted lead gravedigger, and as the lead actor in the travelling company that comes to Elsinore Castle. His take on the ghost of Hamlet's father, though, feels oddly oversized for this production.

Daniel Chen and Melissa Langdon also bring some welcome comedic touches to the roles of Hamlet's hapless friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Both also do standout work in other smaller roles, particularly Chen in his believably intense take on Polonia's son Laertes.

As Ophelia, Reena Jolly gives a strong performance as both the long-suffering daughter of Polonia and the love interest of a mercurial Hamlet, and makes her tragic slide into madness genuinely uncomfortable to watch.

In the role of Hamlet's loyal friend Horatio, Aqqalu (who uses only one name) has a quiet intensity. Though he seemed at times uncomfortable with the rhythm of the Shakespearean language on opening night, he does give the production a moving conclusion.

The scene leading up to that conclusion — usually an energetic clash of swords — is another moment given a playful twist (which I won't spoil here) in Beilfuss's modern-dress production, which suggests a decrepit and rotting Denmark in Daina Leitold's design.

The promenade-style production is briskly paced, including several well-choreographed moves around the scenic Trappist monastery ruins in St. Norbert. Though it tops 2½ hours (with intermission), its energy never lags.

It's not quite, perhaps, a Hamlet for the ages, but it is a fresh and engaging take that proves there's always something new to discover, even in the most familiar works.

Shakespeare in the Ruins' production of Hamlet runs at the Trappist Monastery Provincial Heritage Park until June 22.