Yuri

One of the most bonkers things on offer this year, Yuri tells the story of a Welsh couple, Adele and Patrick, who can’t have children. So Adele finds an adolescent boy in Lidl and takes him home. And calls him Yuri. Patrick is nonplussed at first, but they grow to love the taciturn boy – who may or may not be from Russia. Or China. Or the Democratic Republic of Congo. It isn’t clear. 

Adapted from Fabrice Melquiot’s French original by Dafydd James, it’s an extraordinarily barmy show, with much of the humour coming from Carys Eleri’s performance as the unflappable Adele. When Yuri starts to fondle and attack Patrick, Eleri is pleased that they’re bonding. She’s an exuberant stage presence, and a great comic actor. 

Adele and Patrick make it clear that they’re performing from the beginning. Every lighting cue is barked as a command to techie Siwan at the back of the space, and Adele explains in awed tones at the beginning that, although it’s 10.10pm in Edinburgh, through the magic of theatre it’s 6pm in the play. 

National anthems play between scenes, including Beethoven’s Ode to Joy which is the national anthem of the EU, and some latent message about identity and nationality begins to emerge. But the hidden depths almost don’t matter because (aside from a couple of tasteless jokes) it’s a completely, stupidly enjoyable slice of slapstick and surrealism anyway.