Harper Joy Theatre’s upcoming play “The Shadow” had its beginnings as a fairy tale written by Hans Christian Anderson in 1847.

Jewish author Yevgheny Shvarts, living in Soviet Russia, politicized the content of Anderson’s tale and turned it into a full length play in 1940. In a climate of political repression, Shvarts’ play balanced classic fairy tale elements with darker themes more appropriate to the times.

Sixty-eight years later, Harper Joy Theatre is producing this rarely performed play, in which a traveling scholar enters a fairy tale world and employs the help of his shadow to court a princess. The play builds tension by making the fairy-tale ending uncertain.

Despite coming from a very specific political context, the merits of the play make it applicable and worthwhile for a contemporary audience.

“Although the play was written in response to the  rise of Stalin, like a fairy-tale, it speaks on an archetypical level,” explained Director Chris Petit via e-mail. “I find it entirely relevant to the world we live in.”

“It’s very clever . . . but it also has this darker, more political side,” said senior Rosie Brownlow, who plays the Doctor. “It’s all about staying in power and keeping the rich safe and the masses satiated.”

“[The script] was incredible, hilarious; it has a lot of depth” said sophomore Trevor Cushman, who plays the Shadow.

To serve the script, the cast needs to be extremely high energy.

“It moves at a crackling, zippy pace, because it has to,” said Brownlow.

To this end, Petit “definitely drives us [the cast] quite a bit,” said Cushman, who counted working with Petit as his primary reason for auditioning. “It’s an intense process with him . . . we all learn a lot, and I feel that the product in the end is quite incredible.”

The actors make their own choices, and Petit tells them what does and does not work.

“Theater is always a collaborative art, and all the participants from the actors to the designers to the stage crew bring their own unique talents to the process,” said Petit.

This process promises to deliver an interesting play.

“We’re not dealing with kitchen-sink realism,” said Brownlow. “It’s a very heightened, stylized kind of acting, so it’s been very cool to work on that.”

Cushman developed his role by relating it to real life.

“I just try to approach it as if the Shadow is just a normal human being, albeit he has this circumstance of being someone’s shadow.”

The actors try to create a framework of actions to work with, but this can only take them so far.

“At a certain point you really have to stop worrying so much about whether you’re getting it right and go with what feels authentic for you onstage,” said Cushman. “You always really want there to be an improvisational aspect so that it seems like life onstage.”

This connection to real life is perhaps what gives the play its power.

“We can laugh at how ridiculous it all seems, but then it dawns on us that this seemingly foreign and  bizarre world is not really so different from our own,” explained Petit. “That for me is  the highest purpose of theater.”

Tickets for “The Shadow” are currently on sale at the Harper Joy box office. The play opens today, Thursday, Dec. 11, and runs through Sunday, Dec. 14.