Angel has been imprisoned in New York's Riker's Island because he shot the cult leader who brainwashed and stole his friend. Lucius is there awaiting extradition to Florida, where he casually killed eight people while high on drugs and paranoid. Two men who might otherwise never have met are brought together behind bars.
Lucius takes his solace in God. Angel thinks he knows what he believes in but finds that he doesn't. He needs to make sense of his life; so does his lawyer, Mary Jane Hanrahan, who puts her job on the line for her client.
Stephen Adly Guirgis's play never quite escapes the bars that this kind of intense prison drama puts around itself, but its aggressive, high-octane style is like a shot of caffeine straight in the veins. And Philip Seymour Hoffman's beautifully judged production allows a group of A-list actors to flesh out the deficiencies in the characterisation.
Elizabeth Canavan's Mary Jane is particularly compelling, the story of her own little calvary like a still, quiet voice amid all the sound and fury.
Guirgis's script works in mysterious ways: I never quite sorted out where he thought we should and shouldn't put our faith. But the power of the piece is less in its metaphysics and more in the aggressive, cage-rattling swagger of the writing.
Until August 27. Box office: 0131-226 2151.
