New Art Theatre’s director Robert Shea gave himself a task of Shakespearean proportions — edit one of the Bard’s most complex tragedies without stripping away the intricate dynamics that have made it a stage staple for four centuries.

In a production that restages Shea’s 1987 and 2005 productions of “Hamlet, Prince of Denmark,” The Dana Center at Saint Anselm College in Goffstown will offer a public performance at 7 p.m. today, Nov. 5, as well as three sold-out student matinees for Granite State students this week.

“A primary mission of New Art Theatre is bringing high quality professional classical theater productions to New Hampshire student audiences,” Shea said. “A full-length uncut ‘Hamlet’ would be impossible for these mid-week matinee audiences. Practically speaking, two hours is the maximum amount of time that teachers can allocate with travel plans, etc.”

Instead, New Art Theatre’s version will run about 90 minutes. But rather than dilute the involved story, Shea said he hopes the shortened version spotlights more acutely the political intrigue, dysfunctional family relationships and deadly revenge so central to the plot of the tumultuous tale.

“From an artistic standpoint, it allows the director, through creative editing, to power-pack the production,” Shea said. “The production does not suffer due to such editing, rather it becomes more focused. Rather than an episodic orchestral piece, it becomes a wonderfully powerful and radiant chamber music piece.”

Traditionally, the celebrated play chronicles Hamlet’s revenge on his uncle Claudius, who has not only murdered Hamlet’s father, the king, but assumed the throne and married Gertrude, Hamlet’s mother. The tragedy also is a study of human behavior and its extremes, from moral issues of incest and corruption to madness, whether genuine or affected.

For this production, Shea drew inspiration from a broad range of modern scholarship, from Shakespearean scholars like Stanley Wells and Harold Bloom to modern novelists such as John Updike.

“Wells, Bloom and Updike offer very different insights,” Shea said. “They encourage me to think more freely and independently about the characters and their relationships with each other.

“For example, in this production, I have chosen to portray Polonius as a more three-dimensional and complex person,” Shea said of the fated spy for the new king. “He is being portrayed as a committed and loving father (to Ophelia). This creates a stronger bond with both Ophelia and (her brother) Laertes and makes their actions more plausible later in the play.

“Polonius is usually portrayed as a buffoon (and) this compromises the real potential for exploring his potential as a shrewd political operative who is struggling to maintain his position and influence in a new administration,” he said.

“In addition, Claudius is being portrayed as less of a villain and more of a pragmatic, a politician who is truly in love with Gertrude — and Gertrude is truly in love with him and has been for a long time,” Shea said. “This makes the characters more interesting and the plot less melodramatic and more complex in contemporary terms. It allows the characters to be more complex and real. It makes for a better play.”

Despite the changes, Shea contends the play gains clarity and speed without losing the language of the perennial favorite. Hamlet is a familiar figure, someone desperately trying to restore order to a world spinning out of control.

“Philosophically, audiences identify with Hamlet as he struggles with the fundamental issues that we all struggle with: ‘What is life all about?’ ‘To be or not to be?’ Ultimately, that is the question for us all.

“Theatrically, ‘Hamlet’ is terrific entertainment: comedy, love, scandal, murder, intrigue, power, fighting, and ultimately, the triumph of good over evil.”

New Art Theatre and its Living Classic Series for student audiences was established in 1983 and since then has produced more than 54 ancient and contemporary classics for student and public audiences alike. The group was reorganized in 1996 as New Art Theatre at the New Hampshire Institute of Art in Manchester.

Tickets to the public performance of “Hamlet Prince of Denmark” are $23.50; $17.50 for senior citizens, $12.50 for New Hampshire college and university students. For more information, call 641-7700 or log onto www.anselm.edu/dana.