DETROIT, Mich.–Imagine. Two friends on opposite sides of thinking about the world, and they can discuss, debate, drink beer and part friends.

The Detroit Mercy Theatre Company opens its 48^th season at The Boll Theatre with the Michigan premiere of Wittenberg, a play by David Davalos that brings together Martin Luther, Doctor Faustus (a written by Christopher Marlowe) and Hamlet during the time of the Protestant Reformation.

You think Kavanaugh, Roe v Wade and global warming are hot topics? Try indicting the Catholic church for corruption in 1517 with the idea of splintering from Rome.

The play is a wonderful, articulate, snappily-paced mash-up of familiar characters showing what discussion, debate and fraternity with a small “f” really looks like. And the play is written not only with good fellowship, but with wit and humor.

Luther is, of course, the theologian. Faustus is the philosopher who doesn’t have much use for Godly answers to what makes humans tick and the world rotate. Hamlet, no surprise, is groping for answers as a student who has returned from summer break and can’t decide what to major in at Wittenberg University.

Davalos deftly weaves the writings of Luther with Marlowe’s Faustus to create dialogue, as well as scenes to manifest the arguments such as one depicting great sexual tension between Faustus and a beautiful courtesan, who is the object of his desire.

And the humor is of the stuff of real life. Acting as Luther’s doctor, for example, Faustus attempts a two-barrel approach to cure Luther’s chronic constipation: a new exotic apothecary drink called coffee, and a mandate that the priest write out his frustrations everyday in order to purge them from his mind. When he finally is relieved of his malady through hot cups of java, the ideas and thoughts flow like whiskey from a newly tapped barrel.

Hamlet comes to Faustus for assistance in interpreting a recurring nightmare that has been impacting his tennis game. The Dane, in his dream, is standing at the edge of a giant grave on the moon. He falls into the abyss, but wakes just before hitting the bottom. The prince, it seems, has been angst- ridden since getting back from studying with Copernik and reading his treatise on a heliocentric universe in which the Earth revolves around the sun (rather than the belief that the sun and stars all orbited the Earth). There are, by the way, several grin inducing lines that foreshadow Shakespeare’s play about “To be, or Not To Be.”

There is a somewhat jarring sex scene between Faustus and courtesan (Bridget Smith), billed as Helen of Troy, with whom he is in love. He wants to marry her, but is rebuffed. While his feelings are genuine, he gives her the ring he bought in exchange for just one session of sex. This scene is also notable because it so simulative, it would keep me from taking my teenager to the play. It also seems a bit outside the play, but seems to be Davalos’s swing at depicting a Faustian bargain.

Directed by Arthur J. Beer, one of the strongest and noticeable bits of this production is the pacing, which is fast, and that is good for material that is laden with lots of philosophizing. John Davidson is ideally cast as Faustus. Fully in command of the good doctor’s positions, he makes an articulate and congenial foil to Martin Luther, portrayed ably by Dale Dobson, with just enough condescension toward Christianity, but without insulting his friend. Dobson often plays supporting roles with a stilted presence. Here, he has just enough of that from Luther’s pulpit, but then dials it down to have buddy-buddy chats with Faust, including a lovely scene when the two are having a few too many beers.

Roman D’Ambrosio as Hamlet (what a great name for the stage!) is a student at Detroit Mercy, so it is hardly a stretch for him to portray a student returning to Fall classes after a summer away. But he infuses the role with enough of the right charming Hamlet-ish groping for answers that makes me want to see him try the role for real in a few years.

At a time when debates seem to be settled by a rigged coin flip based on who is in power, it is truly a delight to watch characters with rooted convictions about the biggest things in the universe hash things out in good nature and handshakes, with good humor and affection.