Written and directed by Esther Duquette and Gilles Poulin-Denis, with directorial assistance from Édith Patenaude. A coproduction of Théâtre la Seizième, 2Par4, and the National Arts Centre French Theatre. At Studio 16 on Tuesday, October 18. Continues until October 29

I wish everyone could make art this compelling from the tough seasons in their lives. Straight Jacket Winter transforms its deeply personal source material into joyously transcendent theatre.

In January 2011, creators Esther Duquette and Gilles Poulin-Denis moved from Montreal to Vancouver, leaving behind almost everything. In the play, the real Duquette and Poulin-Denis narrate from the sidelines while actors Julie Trépanier and Frédéric Lemay act out the couple’s struggles with cultural and social isolation. There’s a further layer of doubling in references to a novel by Quebec writer Réjean Ducharme that Gilles is translating, in which a brother and sister willfully cut themselves off from the outside world.

In other hands, this might be insufferably heavy, but Duquette and Poulin-Denis embed these layers within a form that is endlessly inventive. Live projections surprise and delight: crumpled paper represents a blizzard; sparklers become full-blown fireworks when the couple reunites. And the few possessions that Esther and Gilles brought across the country in just seven boxes keep reappearing in subtle and satisfying ways as the play’s narrative disintegrates into expressionistic chaos.

Trépanier and Lemay find every note of comedy (Trépanier’s Esther repeats, distorts, and finally spells her name out for a customer-service rep on the phone), bewilderment, and frustration in the characters’ long string of lost days. Duquette and Poulin-Denis circle the periphery like wizards, operating turntables and projectors, but when they address each other directly, their mutual devotion is deeply affecting; their account of a defining crisis in their relationship is so intimate, it’s like watching wedding vows.

The design elements are equally successful. Julie Vallée-Léger’s set, Itai Erdal’s lighting, and Antoine Quirion Couture’s video design all support the instability of the notion of home, and the terrific sound design, by Jacques Poulin-Denis and Antoine Berthiaume, uses instrumental music to underscore the show’s many emotions.

Straight Jacket Winter is headed off on a national tour, but fortunately for Vancouver audiences (and Anglos, please don’t deprive yourselves; there are English surtitles on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays), Duquette and Poulin-Denis have decided to stick around. I can’t wait to see what they do next.