Monteverdi gets a modern makeover in this show produced by the New York company, Artek. I am just not sure that early music - exquisitely beautiful in itself - needs this kind of Broadway approach.
Well, maybe it could bear it, if only the staging and the acting were not so dire. While you never for a single moment question the musical talent of these musicians, their theatrical abilities are always in doubt.
Women stare soulfully into space and figures walk across the stage in silhouette, adding nothing, and often detracting a great deal, from Monteverdi's madrigals and song cycle Lamento d'Arianna. Buy a ticket by all means, but please listen with your eyes shut.
· Until Aug 26. Box office: 0131 226 0000
