It's likely that many of the audience for Boiling a Frog, 7:84's staging of Christopher Brookmyre's satirical novel, have turned up simply because they are fans of the book. However, Lorenzo Mele's production, based on an adaptation by Christopher Deans, does justice neither to Brookmyre fans nor to non-initiates. On the one hand, it underplays the strengths of the novel; on the other, it's an unexceptional piece of theatre.
Boiling a Frog, published in 2000, is an amalgam of prescient political insight and escapist entertainment. Set in the early days of the Scottish parliament, it's a thriller about an investigative journalist who ends up in prison after getting too close to the truth behind a story being spun by a devious PR guru about the Catholic church.
Brookmyre uses farce, low comedy, satire and Ian Fleming-style adventure to demonstrate the vulnerabilities of a young democracy. His complex and fanciful plot involves computer subterfuge, blackmail, false imprisonment and multiple murder. All standard thriller material - but the author also has a point to make about the undue influence of media, church and spin doctors on the political process.
The problem with this adaptation is that it is so busy getting the details of the story right that it neglects the motivating psychology and the observational comedy that make the book special. The result is a production that describes the outline of the novel without conveying its ribald energy. Brookmyre is a very funny writer, but he seems less so here. Sadly, that blunts the satirical edge that attracted 7:84 to him in the first place.
· On tour until April 2. Details: 0141-334 6686.
