It is hard to avoid the conclusion that the recent severe weather is down to climate change. Yet there is now evidence that the inclement conditions can actually be attributed to a small house in Wales. Finding the show, jointly produced by Fevered Sleep and the National Theatre of Wales, is an adventure in itself. First you must drive to Penygroes, a former slate-mining village in Snowdonia. Then you have to call in at the pub and ask for a key and directions to a dilapidated, pebble-dashed cottage that contains a bizarre micro-climate of its own.
There's not a soul about, but a note from the owner invites you to make yourself at home. It's reasonably warm in the parlour, though colder elsewhere, which might simply be due to the antiquated radiators. But that doesn't explain why it's raining in the basement and there's mist at the top of the stairs. There's a Mary Celeste sense of desertion, with milk in the fridge and the bedclothes left disturbed. But each room delivers a consistent surprise: a howling gale in the kitchen that may just be a faulty tumble-dryer, a bathroom with a damp problem so advanced it is covered in sphagnum moss, and a freezing, fogbound bedroom where visibility becomes so low you wonder if anyone has ever called out mountain rescue to a 1950s semi before.
Having explored the model of a theatre company with no building, National Theatre Wales has now put on a show without any actors, which begs the question whether a dramatic experience is necessarily a theatrical one. But if you are in the region, and curious, my advice would be to take plenty of layers.
• This article was amended on 15 December 2010. The original referred to a Marie Rose sense of desertion. This has been corrected.
