Shows that producers don't want reviewed tend to be like movies that go straight to video, and so it proves with the latest offering from The Reduced Shakespeare Company which wouldn't really pass muster as a student show. The RSC has already turned Shakespeare into bite-sized chunks with some wit and success, but this show - clearly more aimed at the US market - is heavy going. A night in with War and Peace would probably offer more laughs. The level of humour is demonstrated by the fact that Great Expectations becomes Great Expectorations, and the Iliad and the Odyssey, The Idiodity.
Even the title is a bit of a swizz. It is certainly not all the great books, in fact very few get a look in, with American authors (Thoreau, Alcott, Hemingway and Melville) getting a fair proportion of the mentions. Even abridged is pushing it. The company's version of the Iliad and Odyssey goes on for what seems like slightly longer than the Trojan wars. Anyone who has experienced difficulty getting past the first few pages of Joyce's Ulysses will experience similar problems getting past the first few minutes of the RSC's offering.
The format - a remedial class for American high school students - is limiting and clumsy, and the cast are inclined to mistake intense physical exertion for comedy. There are some good throwaway jokes, and a festival audience, out for a good time, clearly had it. Personally, I'd recommend a night in with a good book.
· Until August 25. Box office: 0131-556 6550.
