The PA Shakespeare Festival production of “Hamlet,” through Aug. 3, DeSales University, explores in territory, nuance and legacy the undiscovered country of the iconic William Shakespeare tragedy.

In contemporary theater, there’s a directorial decision known as “color-blind casting.”

By definition, color-blind casting is where roles are cast without regard to the actor’s ethnicity. The Actors’ Equity Association prefers the term “non-traditional casting.”

The practice goes at least back to the New York Shakespeare Festival in 1955 when Joseph Papp cast actors of color for Shakespeare plays. Diane Venora played Prince Hamlet in a Public Theatre production of “Hamlet” in 1982. At Shakespeare’s Globe in London, artistic director Michelle Terry played Hamlet in a 2018 production of “Hamlet,” said to be noted for its gender-blind casting.

The role of Hamlet in the PSF production of “Hamlet” is played by Biko Eisen-Martin, an African-American actor who takes the role to heart, heritage and history.

The non-traditional casting in PSF’s “Hamlet” extends to gender blindness in the roles of Horatio (Taysha Marie Canales, an African-American female), Marcellus (Arrianna Daniels, a Caucasian female) and Voltemand (Relena Kiser, a Caucasian female).

Emphasizing casting particulars could be seen as being beside the point in a review of a Shakespeare play because women were not allowed to appear in public stage performances until 1660 after the Restoration. Female roles were performed by boys or men. “Hamlet” is believed to have been first performed circa 1600 by Shakespeare’s troupe, Lord Chamberlain’s Men.

Turn-about is, ahem, fair play, in PSF’s “Hamlet,” directed by Lindsay Smiling, who is African-American.

The opening night July 11 “Hamlet” performance was seen by this reviewer, who is Caucasian.

By my count, this is the fourth production of Shakespeare’s “The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark” (full title) at PSF, which staged it in 2011, 2002 and 1995. I have seen each of these PSF productions.

By all counts, ”Hamlet” is one of the greatest English-language plays, capable of “seemingly endless retelling and adaptation by others” (Citation: Thompson, Ann; Taylor, Neil, eds. (2006). Hamlet. “Arden Shakespeare,” Third Series. Vol. 1. London: Cengage Learning).

As an old white guy (age 75), I was knocked out by Lindsay Smiling’s direction and Biko Eisen-Martin’s interpretation of “Hamlet.” The play exists in no particular time frame, as if suspended in space, on a stark stage of wood backdrops with a “crashed” chandelier that rises and falls and neon tube lights that are raised and lowered (credit Scenic and Lighting Designer Brian Sidney Bembridge).

Smiling and Eisen-Martin upend and deconstruct the play and put it back together again with an African-American spin. It’s Shakespeare by way of August Wilson. “Hamlet” is a great companion piece to the PSF 2025 season production of the remarkable “A Raisin In The Sun.”

The portrayal of Hamlet by an African-American provides renewed depth, dimension and meaning to the role, especially in Hamlet’s monologues, including perhaps the play’s, Shakespeare’s and the theater’s most famous soliloquy.

Biko Eisen-Martin manifests in the PSF production Act Two opening, striding to center stage in measured pace. Eisen-Martin pauses, breathes and looks around, drawing even more attention to the apocryphal:

“To be, or not to be: that is the question:/Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer/The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,/Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,/And by opposing end them?”

And this:

“For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,/The oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely,/The pangs of despised love, the law’s delay,/The insolence of office and the spurns/ That patient merit of the unworthy takes,”

Seeing and hearing an African-American man speak these immortal words with undiminished passion, sincere emotion and noble humility was shattering and shaming for this reviewer and one of several instances during the PSF performance of “Hamlet” requiring paper tissues for tears.

Eisen-Martin embodies Hamlet’s inner turmoil, whether confronting Ophelia (Pepin, robust; no fragile, uncertain terms here), in chilling, clanking, flashy swordplay (Fight Director Ian Rose keeps it real) with Laertes (David Pica, giving as good as he gets), in declamatory accusations against his mother Queen Gertrude (Grace Gonglewski, resplendently calm), paying attention to the man behind the curtain, Polonius (Eric Hissom, whose wonderfully rambling words spurt from his white ruff collar as if from an inkwell), pausing over a kneeling prayerful King Claudius (Akeem Davis, an African-American, creating an interesting dynamic: a smooth calculating bureaucrat in contrast to Hamlet’s street-smart brio), observing The Players stage their parallel universe, led by Leading Player (Ian Merrill Peakes at his jut-jaw, heel-rocking, feisty best) and confronting King Hamlet’s Ghost (an astounding Damien J. Wallace, an African-American, drifting wraith-like, and rising frighteningly from beneath the stage as the Gravedigger).

The cast includes Darin F. Earl II (Bernardo) and David Andrew Laws (Renaldo).

Sean Close is Rosencrantz and Maboud Ebrahimzadeh is Guildenstern. We can’t wait to see more of these two in Tom Stoppard’s “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead,” July 17 through Aug. 2, in repertory with “Hamlet.”

Costume Designer Nancy Leary signatures the cast in fanciful outfits recognizable and unrecognizable in time and place.

Sound Designer Elizabeth Atkinson pumps up the volume with brass and percussion that heralds and amplifies the action.

I am still contemplating PSF’s 2025 season “Hamlet.” I will be for some time. This is one for the ages.

In times such as these, PSF’s production of “Hamlet” is a much needed shot across the bow. In the world of theater, it’s nothing short of breathtaking. To the theater-goer, it’s simultaneously shattering and uplifting.

This is not your father’s “Hamlet.” Nor should it be. Nor could it be. The production will make old men weep, women swoon and all bolt to their feet with standing ovations. It’s simply stunning. Don’t miss it.

“Hamlet,” 7:30 p.m. July 9, 10, 11, 16, 25. 30, 31, Aug. 2; 6:30 p.m. July 15, 22; 2 p.m. July 20. 23, 26, Aug. 3, PA Shakespeare Festival, Main Stage Theatre, Labuda Center for the Performing Arts, DeSales University, 2755 Station Avenue, Center Valley. 610-282-9455, https://pashakespeare.org/