By Celia Wren
Special to The Washington Post
Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Talk about back-to-school stress. Newly returned to the University of Wittenberg in 1517, after studying in Poland with Copernicus, Hamlet -- yes, that Hamlet -- is suffering from nightmares and nausea. His tennis game is deteriorating, and to make matters worse, he's under pressure to side with one of two brilliant professors: the pious priest Martin Luther, who's on his way (accidentally) to launching the Protestant Reformation, or the philosopher John Faustus, whose interests include disseminating heresy, inventing psychiatry, touting coffee as a laxative and playing the lute in a tavern called the Bunghole.

Such is the loopy scholastic world of "Wittenberg," David Davalos's hoot of a comedy, now on view in an exuberant and swanky production from Rep Stage. A cocktail of brainy allusions, absurdist plot twists, sly wordplay and disarming anachronisms, fortified with serious ideas, "Wittenberg" should delight Tom Stoppard fans, recovering English majors, disillusioned academics and anyone who has ever wondered what Helen of Troy was like in the sack.

Under the shrewd direction of Tony Tsendeas, the zaniness unfolds on a handsome set that evokes both 16th-century civilization and the ideas that informed it. (Paul Christensen is the designer.) A model of the Earth dangles over a floor painted with a glossy astronomy chart. To the left, Faustus's office -- a desk and cupboard cluttered with books, pharmaceutical paraphernalia and a human skull -- suggests a Renaissance vanitas painting. To the right, a wall represents the Wittenberg church door to which Luther's 95 Theses (the text that sparked the Reformation) were famously nailed; the wall rotates to become an oversize pulpit.

The pulpit supplies a priceless first glimpse of Luther (Michael Stebbins, Rep Stage's producing artistic director), who rises from the structure like a genie from a bottle, his expression sublimely woebegone. "A reminder that this is Principles of Christian Philosophy," he intones as he starts a lecture (Hamlet scuttles in late). "If you are in league with the Devil, you are in the wrong classroom -- and you want instead Dr. Faustus's philosophy seminar across the quad . . . "

Contrasting with Stebbins's delectable sad-sack shtick, Seth Reichgott plays Faustus as a charming, hedonistic, seditious wheeler-dealer, who's as comfortable smoking a hookah as he is quoting Aristotle and writing prescriptions (the character is a doctor and a lawyer, as well as a scholar). Michael Feldsher's Hamlet exudes just the right air of feverish intensity, while Emily Clare Zempel makes a serene Virgin Mary, an aptly sassy barmaid and a sultry version of Helen, Faustus's inamorata. (In Christopher Marlowe's "Doctor Faustus," whose references to Wittenberg partly inspired Davalos's play, Helen is of course the Trojan War figure, diabolically summoned.)

Costume designer Norah Worthington's colorful Renaissance garb complements the educated whimsy pervading "Wittenberg" (which debuted at Philadelphia's Arden Theatre Company in 2008). Jay Herzog's artful lighting ranges from psychedelic (for Hamlet's nightmare) to Rembrandt-rich, and Chas Marsh's sound design -- with its pitch-perfect pub chatter, slamming tennis balls and dream voices -- helps flesh out the fictional reality.

But "Wittenberg's" chief assets are Davalos's light, confident handling of bona fide philosophical concepts (regarding choice, freedom and doubt) and his archly virtuosic language, which runs to innumerable puns on "Hamlet" lines. ("An out! A very palpable out," a judge calls, here, during a tennis match.)

Obviously, "Wittenberg's" linguistic and intellectual pyrotechnics recall such Stoppard works as "Travesties" and "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead." But Davalos's play, refreshingly, has a more laid-back feel. The content may smack of finals week, but the atmosphere is more spring break.

Wittenberg, by David Davalos. Directed by Tony Tsendeas; properties design, Liza Davies. About 2 hours 10 minutes. Through Sept. 13 at Rep Stage, Howard Community College, 10901 Little Patuxent Pkwy., Columbia. Call 410-772-4900 or visit http://www.repstage.org.