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The phone calls that serial killer Bollin gets from a young admirer serve as a fine tool of scene transition.

And that’s just the kind of production that Günter Grass’s dark comedy Mister, Mister is, riddled with homicidal dialogue that sounds more like fans fawning over a movie star. In the version now set in the intimate confines of Studio 5 at the historic Walnut Street Theatre, director Rich Rubin puts together a fast-moving, 90-minute show, with more than a few nods to the script’s German writer.

Rubin’s star is Robert Cutler, who puts a fittingly menacing face on Bollin, the killer who murders by series — slaying teenagers, forest rangers, opera singers, etc. The production, which is staged cleverly on the limited set, is book ended by Bollin himself being tormented by two 14-year-old children, played by Katie Gould and Robert DaPonte. Their humanizing harassment of the methodical murderer comes with much sing-song teasing that leaves its own eerie echo.

Kudos too, to Ian Boston McCafferty, who plays a delightful and prideful Greensward, the forester who runs across Bollin. Definitely a show worth checking out.

Mister, Mister
Oct. 2-11 Walnut Street Theatre, Studio 5
Oct. 15-25 Shubin Theatre
www.quinceproductions.com