“Hamlet,” the quintessential Shakespearean tragedy, came to a close after two weekends of performance at the Rhynsburger Theatre.

Any comment on the universal appeal of “Hamlet” would be an understatement. The story of Shakespeare’s Danish prince has been played so exhaustively, examined so widely and referenced so often that, arguably, the only remaining question is which of Shakespeare’s tragedies comes second in worldwide popularity.

Director Kevin Brown said in the playbill he questioned how to put on such a popular production when it had previously been performed in many different ways.

“How do you make a play that is over four hundred years old seem fresh and speak to a contemporary audience?” Brown said.

Though he emphasized that the aim was not to “conceptualize” Shakespeare, Brown conducted his adaptation in a dystopian, post-collapse setting.

“I am adamant that this is not yet another ‘post-apocalyptic’ setting,” Brown said.

The script had been trimmed substantially from a play originally performed in no more than four hours (and at the grace of the director, allowing more than one intermission) to a play lasting only two. Brown said he made the decision to skip over more political scenes, neglecting the approach of the Norwegian army and Hamlet’s trip to England in favor of emphasizing both his relationship with Ophelia and his spitting, giggling, manic descent into madness.

The play kept true to Shakespeare’s stylistic, declamatory dialogue – either feared or loved, depending on your tastes – with appropriate attention paid to blending rewrites with the original script. However, one of the play’s charms lay in the linguistic Easter eggs woven into the dialogue at subtle, unpredictable moments.

In a commentary directed toward the audience itself, players would periodically drop Shakespearean parlance, breaking both character and verse with flashes of contemporary language.

A quick, irreverent reply such as “Thanks,” carried by a downward, almost dismissive inflection is immediately recognizable in a stream of Shakespearean writing. It was a subtle snap of the fingers by Brown – unstated and hard to describe, yet so effective at highlighting the comparative vulgarity of modern language.

Even people who had previously seen the play hailed it a success.

MU student Leann McLaughlin, who has seen many versions and forms of the play, said she felt this adaptation’s theme worked well.

“It’s a pretty adaptable story,” she said. “It’s kind of a different take, but it works on so many levels.”

“Hamlet” closed Sunday at the Rhynsburger Theatre, marking the end of the Department of Theatre’s performance season.