‘Hamlet ’97’ is a play for the times> Belfast Maskers production brings Prince Hamlet screaming into the 1990s

If Hamlet were a young college student today, would he ask that most famous of questions: To be or not to be? Gardner Howes, the artistic director at the Belfast Maskers, doesn’t think so. No, the 1990s Hamlet is brazen enough to turn the question into a definitive — if not cocky — statement. His self-assured philosophy, in keeping with today’s aggrandized youth culture, is: TO BE. TO BE.

Forget the “not.” It has no place in 1997.

Or so it seems in Howes’ “Hamlet ’97,” an adaptation of Shakespeare’s famous story (which, in its entirety, is enjoying some success as a film version by Kenneth Branagh). Howes has nipped and tucked the script to make it immensely accessible. But the language is basically as Shakespeare wrote it.

It’s the look of the production and an underlying similarity to TV shows such as “My So-Called Life” that make “Hamlet ’97” work as an event just right for the times. A scruffy-faced Hamlet, played by 19-year-old Adam Stone, wears a long black coat, carries a Latin American hippy bag, and growls out his lines with true existential angst. He’s angry — at his mother, at his girlfriend, at his buddies, at his stepfather. His wits, you might say, are deceived in a totally modern and middle-class milieu.

In short, you know this guy. He can be found at any American high school today.

As a community production, this version of “Hamlet” works surprisingly well. These are not actors who are trained to speak Shakespeare’s poetry as it should be spoken, but they bring a certain every-man tone to it and often create rather humorous situations. Howes makes some strong statements about how well Hamlet’s dilemma still rings true in 1997, and there’s real warmth in his directorial hand. There’s a sense that this is a family event for the actors, and it is as if you are sitting in their living room watching the story unfold.

The show runs about three hours (be sure to note than the evening performances begin at 7), and you have to give yourself over to the slow pace. It steals a smoothness from the flow of the action, but it doesn’t undermine the production.

A cast of community actors goes all out for this ambitious programming move. Few directors would dare take this on, and even fewer would put untrained actors in the roles. Nevertheless, Howes has put together a cast that upholds the Belfast Maskers’ tradition of a naturalistic acting style. Woodruff Gaul, as Horatio, David L. Smith as Polonius, and Sandra Piechocki as Gertrude best typify this approach.

The most entertaining moment in the show, however, belongs to Peter Paton and Philip Prince as the gravediggers. They are nothing less than hilarious — and really bring home Howes’ point that Denmark and Maine can be one and the same place if you just take an imaginative look at the situation.

As usual, the set design (Linden Frederick) of a suburban house and costuming (Sharon Teel) of hip clothes are amazingly sophisticated for such a small company.

One can easily say that, in bringing it into a contemporary setting, Howes has suited the word to the action and the action to the word. Or, as one playgoer was overheard saying: “Beats TV. I brought my kids. This is probably the most challenging thing they’ve seen. And they’ll remember it forever. Besides, it can’t do ’em no harm.” Indeed, “Hamlet ’97” might go a long way in showing young people that the motto of “This above all: to thine own self be true” is wildly — and perhaps frighteningly — pertinent in our times.

The Belfast Maskers will perform “Hamlet ’97” 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday through Feb. 2 at the Railroad Theater in Belfast. For information, call 338-9668.