Dealing with a woman’s attempts to support her academic partner’s neuroscience research, and the challenges posed by a relationship between two very different people, Blizzard follows the protagonist (a peerless Emily Woof) as she travels to deliver his lecture to a conference. She encounters a wild performance artist, visits Nietzsche’s house and is forced to confront their divergent understandings of the world, in an hour that is sprightly, wryly funny, and dense with ideas about the nature of the mind and human happiness.

Dotty’s inability to understand the research inevitably leads to disaster, but the details of her adventures offer rich comedy; the exaggerated bohemian philosophy of a performance artist, or Dotty’s version of her partner’s lecture, launch her into surreal territory. Her poetic vision of the world contrasts against the austere intellectual world of her partner’s scientific precision, and her dauntless enthusiasm guides her optimism.

Warm and engaging, Dotty may not ever realise when a catastrophe has happened. Woof’s presence is guileless and winning, and the deeper themes (which include the nature of cognition and commodification of philosophy) glimmer beneath what appears to be a playful, inconsequential yet exquisite shaggy-dog story.

Blizzard, Summerhall, until 27 August, 3pm.