Late last week, I saw Gremlin Theatre’s “How to Cheat,” the full-length remounting of a 2006 Fringe festival production, written and directed by award-winning playwright Alan Berks. I’ll not bury the lead: it’s a terrifically clever, brash take on a tried and true theme, not to mention a bracing alternative to treacly holiday fare.

As the title suggests, “How to Cheat” is a story about an affair — a pair of attractive strangers meet at a formal party for rich folks and steal away from the crowd to an empty storage room, the site of the play’s action, for flirtatious fencing and an inevitable tryst. The set design is spare, but evocative, a room filled with burnished antique odds and ends, at the center of which is a stack of upended, large tables — perfect for dancing, climbing and holding forth on.

The bones of the tale are deeply familiar, complete with the requisite romantic tension and release and satisfying Hepburn-and-Tracy banter. But there’s such play in the margins of the telling, in the judicious tweaks to that well-worn narrative: a sprinkling of the surreal as the affair deepens, the wickedly clever (sexy and chaste) consummation scene and the unexpected depths of existential angst that emerge as the coupling progresses.

Meredith (played by Candy Simmons) is lovely in an angular way, and funny, too, if a bit brittle. She’s unhappily married but winsome in her frailty, a scrappy journalist who writes about “places the world has forgotten about.” Louis (played by Randy Reyes) is stylish and single; a biochemist by trade, he’s witty and perceptive and well-practiced at casual seduction.

Both actors carry their parts off admirably, but it’s Reyes, as Louisito, who steals the show. A Twin Cities theater favorite (and Mu Performing Arts, a Knight Arts grantee, staffer), as “Louis” Reyes is as charming for his ruthlessness as for his glimpses of vulnerability, seamlessly blending apparently contradictory impulses into a character who feels rounded and complicated, human — at once deeply flawed and incredibly attractive.

In a way, it’s no wonder: This is a role literally made for him. Berks and Reyes collaboratively created the character for the original Fringe show with him in mind for the part. It must be heady stuff, to play a role written specifically for you. I imagine each performance must bring a unique frisson of stage fright, too — if an audience doesn’t respond well, it would be almost impossible not to take the slight personally.

But there’s little chance of that. “How to Cheat” is smart, funny and brisk-paced, but it’s no mere trifle. It’s romance with philosophical edge and emotional heft, offering both a night’s fling and a compelling argument for allowing the occasional illicit thrill.

“How to Cheat,” written and directed by Alan Berks, featuring Randy Reyes and Candy Simmons, is at Gremlin Theatre through Dec. 10, 2400 University Ave. West, St. Paul, Minn. Tickets are $20 (some discounts available). Box office: 651-228-7008. On the web: http://www.gremlin-theatre.org/.