Murdo is stranded in the middle of the countryside. It’s bucketing rain and he needs a bed for the night. Any port will do in this storm so he finds himself knocking on the front door of the family of a distant friend. To his astonishment, the five peculiar siblings who greet him, seem to expect him. They’re expecting a lawyer to explain their inheritance as their father takes his final breath. But Murdo doesn’t have a briefcase, isn’t a lawyer and has never met their barely clinging onto this world dad. A night of comic antics ensue, culminating in a calamitous bout of hiccups.

The deliciously zany An Unexpected Hiccup was first created in 2021, a co-production between local companies, Plutôt La Vie and Lung Ha. Lung Ha is Scotland’s leading theatre company for actors with a learning disability or who are autistic. This second staging marks their fortieth year and the launch of Lung Ha Touring Company.

Writer Michael Duke‘s plot’s a lot like you’d expect of a story that starts with a stranger rocking up at a spooky house in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night but the script is witty enough for the plot to matter less. The commendably sturdy set (Karen Tennant) features a series of doors, leading who knows where, all converging on the spare sofa pressed into action as Murdo’s bed. The siblings and their long-suffering, endearingly sweet butler (Ryan Duncan) hurtle in and out of the doors, guaranteeing that Murdo gets a little less than a wink of sleep. Energetic choreography (Maria Oller, Ian Cameron), music, colourful costumes and a farce-worthy quantity of door banging see the story rattling along its rickety way. But the total joy of this production is the performances.

A flamboyant Kurt (Gavin Yule) is a classics student turned fashion designer with suitable panache who delights in creeping up on people. Louisa (Emma Clark) yearns her lost love in a haunting solo song – before attempting to pounce in true predatory style on the new guest. Tess (Nicola Tuxworth) seems to orchestrate much of the drama with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. Colin’s midnight drag reverie is a showstopper (Keith Watson). And Thelma’s comic timing and deadpan delivery is a comedic counterbalance to the convoluted caperings of her siblings (Emma Maccaffrey). Murdo (Tim Licata) rises above the madness, honouring his final strange duty with aplomb before finally being released from his strange encounter.

This is a boisterous, ebullient, tightly choreographed production with lots of potential for things to go wrong – but none of it does. Catch this brilliant company on their short-is Fringe run (final show is Saturday 10 August) if you’re lucky enough to be in Edinburgh and if you’re further afield, keep your fingers crossed that they tour to a spooky house near you one day soon.

An Unexpected Hiccup is at ZOO Southside – Main House until Sat 10 Aug 2024 at 16:30