For the majority of audience members, the likelihood is that as we wait for this piece to begin, we will already be immersed in our own personal worlds of grief, privately thinking of our lost loved ones. Despite this (and the fact that we’re all strangers) Belgian Fringe veterans Ontroerend Goed do a remarkable job of making us feel immediately as if we are part of a community, held in a space that is warm and protective.

They teach us a song with a simple, melancholy, philosophical message. We are invited to share the names of our lost loved ones, which are written down and read aloud at the end. As we enter the theatre space we are carefully shepherded to shake hands with every single other audience member. This beautiful feat of choreography is one of many throughout the piece, as we are guided through a series of gentle, participatory and poetic memento mori.

There are some markers of remembrance that verge on cliché; performers list random personal details such as ‘the smell of her Elnett hairspray’ or ‘the scent of baking bread’. And while they introduce the idea that everything on earth is ‘an event’, from the making and disintegration of a stone to the passing of a life, its exploration feels slight. The heart of Funeral really lies in its invitation to perform simple gestures, throughout which the performers hold your grief so carefully. Funeral doesn’t impose itself. It breathes quietly.

Funeral, ZOO Southside, until 27 August, times vary.