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THEATER REVIEW — If my count is correct, the current "Hamlet" at the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company is my 10th, very likely the play I've seen most, including at least two productions before I started writing about theater some 19 years ago. Memory being an imperfect beast, it's not fair to compare different productions on more than a superficial level, but to approach each one on its own relative merits.

What most distinguishes the current Cincinnati Shakespeare Company version is the production design. At first blush, it almost seems as though the scenic designer and the costumers were working on different shows. The centerpiece of the set is a giant altar in traditional Japanese design, and the costumes could have come from a Robert Mitchum movie, at least in the first scenes. But the disparity is bridged by the dark hues of the set and the rich use of shadow, sometimes using only candlelight, and by the dark suits and fedoras in jarring incongruity to the samurai gear sported by the ghostly king when he arrives, which only helps make him all the more terrifying. Hamlet's black-on-black ensemble stands in stark contrast to the ceremonial white kimonos of Gertrude and Claudius when we get to the king and queen's court, and when Hamlet and Laertes have their final smack-down, it's done martial-arts style in short robes, though a bit awkward in its execution.

So the two styles blend together to create an exotic, even alien, post-apocalyptic world grounded in familiar references.

However, the discord between the production design and the acting style is less reconcilable. The actors deliver their lines in a conventional "trippingly off the tongue" manner, which seems at odds with the environment. Granted, the production would certainly have suffered should they have put on Bogey and Bacall mannerisms, but there might have been some middle ground somewhere.

Given that, however, the cast by and large makes interesting choices. Having seen Matt Johnson in a couple of dozen shows in his seven years at CSC, I can't say that I would have pictured him as a good Hamlet, but he wears the melancholy Dane well, partly by making him not so melancholy. In the most famous of soliloquies, for instance, he poses the existential question not as if it were his obsession, but with a bit of a laugh, the kind of chortle that signals a moment of unexpected clarity, and the rest of the speech follows becomes a process of discovery for Hamlet rather than a rumination.

The production is full of clever touches such as that. When Rosencrantz and Guildenstern make their first appearance, they're flipping a coin, an homage to Tom Stoppard and his homage to "Hamlet," "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead."

Hayley Clark, following up a season showing her comedic chops in "A Midsummer Nights Dream" and a romantic side in "Romeo and Juliet," shows her mad side as a muddy Ophelia in an inspired performance.

One of the patrons overheard me before talking about how many times I've seen "Hamlet," and asked which I thought was best. It wasn't really a fair question, I thought, because it would be like trying to choose a favorite among your children.

Each had its charms and surprises, some "re-imagined," though in the end, they don't all seem that much different because what lingers more than production design are the words. Shakespeare was at top form when he wrote "Hamlet," and the language is both musical and rich in imagery, emotion and character (although it was recently brought to my attention that the women of "Hamlet" aren't treated very sympathetically).

Although it is far from a perfect production, the current "Hamlet" is loaded with riches and worth seeing even if you have seen it 10 - or 20 or 100 - times.

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how to go

WHAT: "Hamlet" by William Shakespeare

WHERE: Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, 719 Race St., Cincinnati

WHEN: Through Nov. 16

COST: $20-$26

MORE INFO: (513) 381-2273; www.cincyshakes.com