Zoe Wohlfeld is having a funeral for her deceased dog Twinkles and you are all invited. Whether you like it or not. Dog funeral is one of those clowning shows where you might have paid to be in the audience but you could just as easily end up in the show. And don't think sitting at the back is going to make you safe.

After some scene-setting film, Wohlfeld comes on in her widow's weeds, like someone out of an Edward Gorey story. She is mourning her late canine. Tears rolling down her face, mascara smudged, like Robert Smith in a frock. The Gaulier-trained American asks members of the audience for emotional support and glasses of Pinot Grigio. In fact she demands that one fan goes out and buys drinks for everyone.

It's certainly a courageous performance, finding humour while at the same time exploring the nature of grief. Death is all around us. Even a squashed fly deserves a decent send-off.

Wohlfeld seems forever on the edge of a breakdown, but always remembering to find the laughs there too. She's fearless, skilled and charismatic, at times reminsicent of brash, freeform King of Comedy star Sandra Bernhard, speaking the unspeakable, doing the undoable. 

Dog Funeral succeeds in being silly while also being a genuine meditation on mortality and loss. Why do we mourn? How do we mourn? How are we supposed to behave? Do we rip our clothes off? Get drunk? Just weep? (and if you can't produce real tears use a water pistol). These questions are underpinned by a streak of sublime, bum-wiggling absurdism. 

This darkly comic show has a tenderness too. Who knows, if you've recently lost a loved one – human, pooch or insect – it might even help you get through it. 

Zoe Wohlfeld will also be staging a funeral for Greyfriars Bobby today, Friday August 14. Details here.

Until August 30. Tickets here.

Read more Fringe reviews here.

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