wittenberg

Through May 4 - Wittenberg at Aurora Theatre Company.  The setting of this extremely clever play by David Davalos, performed in its Bay Area premiere at Aurora, is Prince Hamlet's senior year at Wittenberg University where he just happens to be auditing classes by Martin Luther and Dr. Faustus.  Davalos has a lot of fun with the language of Shakespeare, and he stays true to the Bard by covering topics both spiritual and decidedly earthy.  Hamlet is really a supporting character, with the real stars of the show Dan Hiatt's passionate straight man Luther and Michael Stevenson as the sly Faustus (who also just happens to dabble in pharmacological remedies and the new field of psychology).  The pair's attempts to win the young Hamlet over to their respective views set the stage for the prince's struggles within his own play, and philosophical arguments have rarely been so entertaining as they are here.