Although there is no connection between the two shows, this production, based on the blogs of a young Iraqi woman known as Riverbend, can best be seen as a companion piece to Here's What I Heard About Iraq. While the latter uses facts and figures and verifiable statements to piece together a narrative about the war, Girl Blog offers up a more personal view. This is by no means a sophisticated piece of theatre, and the staging - which uses five actors to tell a single woman's story - is sometimes unnecessarily tricksy.
But, like My Name Is Rachel Corrie, Girl Blog features the unaffected voice of a young woman telling it like it is and who, like Corrie, seems to be caught in the very act of discovering herself as her narrative unfolds. Most of all it features an on-the-ground view of the realities of life in Baghdad, a city where the infrastructure has broken down.
This is a personal tragedy, too: before the invasion, Riverbend was an educated middle-class young woman doing a job she loved, but the rise of fundamentalism means that she is no longer allowed to work. Before the occupation only 55% of women wore the hijab; now it is dangerous for a woman to leave the house without one.
This is a passionate portrait of people under huge duress who still maintain not just a sense of humour but a sense of hope. As an old Iraqi proverb says: "If you see death, you settle for a fever."
· Until August 28. Box office: 0131-556 6550.
