Something may still be rotten in Denmark, but the production of William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” that opened in Ypsilanti Friday night is a fresh, edge-of-your-seat take on the familiar tragedy.

At first I was inclined to dismiss the Eastern Michigan University Theatre production as Shakespeare for “The Vampire Diaries” generation. It has that look, intentional or not, with a handsome, brooding, angst-y title character dressed in black, a zombie-like dead king, and acting that sometimes strayed toward melodrama. But it didn’t take long for that notion to vanish. There’s some real depth here, and some terrific stagecraft at work.

The play’s story remains the same: Hamlet, the prince of Denmark, plots revenge on his uncle the king, who murdered his own brother, Hamlet’s father, in order to seize the throne and marry Hamlet’s mother, Queen Gertrude.

But here’s what’s different. EMU professor Lee Stille’s new adaptation splits the title role in half, each played by a pair of scarily well-matched actors (Matt Andersen and Evan Mann). They shadow each other on stage, they trade lines back and forth (it’s like they are finishing each other’s sentences) and are often at odds. Unusual as it was to hear the “to be, or not to be” soliloquy broken down into two parts, it worked beautifully. It’s a powerful way to explore the conflicts that rage within Hamlet; there’s the face he shows to the world and then there’s the one raging inside that lusts to rebel.

The show, which ran a quick three hours (including intermission), had any number of high points. You could have heard a pin drop during the “get thee to a nunnery” scene among the Hamlets and Ophelia (Jessica LaFave). The same held true as the Hamlets confronted the queen (an obviously conflicted Kristala Pouncy) and wound up murdering Polonius (Tom Foley). And it was impossible to look away from the remarkably well-choreographed duel with Laertes (Isaac Reimer) that marks the tragedy’s end.

The scene in which a gravedigger (Nick White) unearths Yorick’s skull provided welcome comic relief, what with so much emotion pouring forth from the characters.

Lighting, foreboding music and theater smoke worked well to enhance the drama, although the overuse of sound effects on the voice of the murdered king (Adam Sheaffer) prompted some tittering from the audience and made me think briefly of some B-movies I have seen. The costumes, from Victorian to punk, were also excellent. Diction and dialog flow, sometimes a problem with younger actors doing Shakespeare, was spot on.

I also liked how the names of the actors, along with production photos, were projected on an on-stage screen before the show started. However, the slide that included the director’s notes was up for too short a time. I would have liked to have read more about the roles “domination and submission” played in the story, but the image changed before I was done reading. The program — reduced to a list of names, probably since much of the information had gone visual — didn’t have the director’s notes either, so I was left wondering.

But that's really a minor quibble. Forget about the nunnery — get thee to Quirk Theatre and catch this one before it’s too late. To borrow from The Bard — you may not look upon its like again.

“Hamlet” continues Saturday at 7 p.m., Sunday at 3 p.m., and Thursday-Saturday, October 28-30 at 7 p.m. at Quirk Theatre, on EMU’s campus. Tickets at 734-487-2282 or online.

Roger LeLievre is a freelance writer who covers entertainment for AnnArbor.com.