Diana Salles greets us as we enter Summerhall’s Main Hall, welcoming us to the funeral, wearing a beautiful beaded generously-skirted Victorian mourning dress. Once we are seated, she raises a white handkerchief to signal the start of the show: a gesture of surrender or a call to arms?

Delusional – I Killed A Man is one of those shows that is hard to categorise. It’s billed as a contemporary circus show but this is kind of underselling it (with no disrespect intended to circus). It does contain aerial art but it’s also theatre, physical theatre, visual theatre, it contains song. You might best describe it as performance art.

Salles invites us to the funeral of the man she used to be. Her show explores her experience and self-perceptions following her transition. It explores ideas, conventions and expectations around gender and gender identity. And it’s told through a series of ravishing sequences, some of breathtaking beauty, helped by a soaring soundscape (Lukas Thielecke) and stunning lighting. It totally spoils the surprise to tell you that at the show’s opening, Salles tears off her constricting corsets and unwinds her skirt (Alexander Michael Arnold) but it’s a magnificent statement of intent. Her skirt becomes her aerial silk, simultaneously constricting and liberating her, ultimately enabling her to fly free.

She’s a skilled performer – incredibly strong mentally and physically but also full of grace and touchingly vulnerable. All tribute to her and director Firenza Guidi, the show nods to the current furore around gender identity in some circles and elegantly moves beyond that. The wonder of this production is the questions it raises. In one beautiful sequence, Salles prowls the stage in circles, walking alternately “like a man” and then “like a woman”. Nothing is said but you know exactly what she’s doing – and then you wonder why you know that. This show is Salles’ attempt to answer her own questions. We’re privileged to be taken along for the ride.