Friday night, a talented cast of student actors and crew opened their production of “Fortinbras” at Cabrillo College’s Black Box Theater. Skip Epperson’s influence was evident in a masterful set that functioned perfectly as the Castle of Elsinore, the haunt of Hamlet’s final farewell. Lee Blessing’s script weaves together unexpectedly whimsical elements in an altogether funny and deep postmodern pastiche, and Robin Aronson deftly directed her stalwart ensemble to create a theatrical experience both absurd and moving. The action escalates quickly, and as the actors hit their beats, the audience delves into a haunted world hilariously resonant with our own time.

Ian Grant’s confident performance as Fortinbras is key to the production’s success. He must balance his character’s ludicrous political actions with ample charisma and sincerity, and on opening night his portrayal of the new king shone with all of the gusto you could want. His Fortinbras, an uneducated inheritor of the Danish throne, exudes a warmth matched by his uncritical lack of a conscience. He is both dumb and likable. With only two witnesses to the final scene of the royal family’s demise, he has control over the country and its narrative.

The two witnesses, Osric, played by Sebastian Hardison, and Horatio, portrayed by Cody Balcomb-Bartok, take opposite tracks in response to the events. Hardison plays a satisfyingly ludicrous patsy, entirely willing to hand over the seat of power to Fortinbras. Balcomb-Bartok’s Horatio is both stoically grieving and righteously concerned about the new king. This fatuous duo facilitates the actions of the play through obeisance and resistance to the new regime. Osric’s lack of principle and Horatio’s sense of duty intensify until the climactic final moments of the play.

Not long after the Captain of the Norwegian Army (Brett Aeck) removes the fallen bodies of the royal family, they return to the stage as ghosts transformed in meaningful ways. Polonius (Nick Bilardello), once an overzealous court councilor, has become a spookily silent haunt. Not until he appears on stage alone do we hear his opinion on things, and then he recounts the exciting experience of dying in contrast to the doldrums of death. As the play is part meditation on how people want what they can’t have, his absent voice is the only one that Fortinbras seeks.

Ophelia, Polonius’s daughter (Elektra Shrader) returns as a woman hell bent on defining herself on her own terms. She seduces Fortinbras and keeps him under her sexual spell. Of all the ghosts, she is the only one who is happy with Fortinbras’ story, as her true tale depresses her. And yet, Fortinbras at some point rejects her as he tries to free himself from her influence, and she laments the fleeting affections of men. Ophelia may be a free agent in death, but she still has to deal with the ridiculous behavior of men, taking out some of her frustration on her brother Laertes (Logan Mulhall), who meekly plays the victim to his sister.

The play makes fun of “Hamlet” at every turn, mocking the bizarre appearance of pirates in the plot and resting upon the premise that the story is so ridiculous that the people would sooner believe a made up narrative about a Polish spy. Claudius (Kevin Karplus) and Gertrude (Sarah Marsh) are busy repenting for their sins and try to convince Fortinbras to disinter their bodies since they don’t deserve to be buried in sacred ground. Yet, they are still consumed by grotesque desire for each other only tempered by the stronger passion of shame. Karplus and Marsh do a great job of playing this bizarre couple with over the top energy.Matthew Chipman plays Hamlet with a coy intensity appropriate for the most surreal character in the play. Appearing inexplicably trapped inside a television set, Hamlet sets about reenacting the scene wherein he should have killed Claudius when so doing would have meant avoiding enmeshing the rest of the characters in his revenge plot. Unable to escape the tube, he makes Laertes act out the scene of his regret. Finally, he concocts an Oedipal spell that liberates him from his anachronistic prison and joins the rest of the ghosts in haunting the castle.

Lee Blessing’s play is a sophisticated farce, a postmodern ramble through theater’s most vaunted tragedy. It is a nihilistic look at the meaninglessness of power and the futility of both introspection and hedonism. In a world where life and death are both out of our control and identity is subject to the influence of ghosts, Cabrillo Theater’s “Fortinbras” shines as a comical exploration of political tragedy.

The play runs Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday matinees at 2 until April 27. For information and tickets, visit cabrillo.edu/theatre-arts.