Sarah Ruhl gets off on quirk. The acclaimed American playwright behind “The Clean House” and “Melancholy Play” offers a bizarre and playful look at death and our dependency on cell phones with “Dead Man’s Cell Phone.”

This Equity Coop production is a rare treat at the Fringe -an expert group of professionals having some fun together. Sitting in a charming café, Jean (a note-perfect Eileen Barrett) discovers the man across from her (Stephen Aberle) has died. Furthermore, his cell phone will not stop ringing.

So what does she do? She answers it, thereby cementing a relationship between them. Jean then spends her time visiting various family members and acquaintances of the dead Gordon, creating alternate realities and happy endings for them, and going to tremendous lengths to do so.

The play goes from quirky, to silly, to downright ludicrous and back again, but through it all the production remains level – level and wonderful. The performances are exquisite: Suzanne Ristic soars as the scorned widow with a penchant for divulging sexual secrets, whereas Zena Daruwalla commands the stage with lipstick. Marion Eisman channels Christine Baranski as Gordon’s mother who invites Jean into their lives, for better or for worse. Aberle offers expert delivery of an exceptional monologue about the mundane nature of life. It’s so delicious, that its abrupt end is heartbreaking. If I could, I’d hand him a Jessie during curtain call.

In all its cutting and manic hilarity, the play explores the perceptions and assumptions people make of each other, and how technology can destroy and confuse those things. As the playful underdog Dwight, Ari Solomon asks “People say I love you on cell phones and where does it go?”

Director Kevin McNulty makes great use of what could be a cavernous space at Firehall, and together with set designer Pam Johnson, they’ve made the excessive scene changes and multitude of locations a real treat to watch unfold. In seeing so many professionals in a Fringe production, one can’t help but think of the devastating cuts our arts communities are coping with.

But that’s not to say that there’s anything wrong with producing in the Fringe. More than anything “Dead Man’s Cell Phone” feels like a love letter: to Vancouver theatre, to what the Fringe can be, and to a downright wonderful production.

Dead Man’s Cell Phone
Part of the Vancouver International Fringe Festival
Firehall Arts Centre
Remaining Performances:
Thursday Sep 16, 6:00 pm
Sunday Sep 19, 7:00 pm