Donald Barthelme was a dazzling writer, the kind who could take a story as familiar as Snow White and conjure from it a dizzying inquisition into the modern world. Written by Paul Allman, this play sets out to celebrate and emulate Barthelme's fiendish experiments with language and expectation.
Sadly, it succeeds only in discombobulating those who haven't heard of Barthelme and disappointing the few who have.
Like Barthelme, Allman takes what is - at least for New Yorkers - a familiar tale, and treats it like an intricate piece of origami, seeking a secret in every fold.
One night in 1986, the newsreader Dan Rather was beaten by two thugs, who demanded obscurely: "Kenneth, what is the frequency?" For Allman, this event contains "the clue to the mysteries of the universe".
Well, transformed into theatre, it's certainly mystifying. A dying Barthelme cooks up an intricate stew and escapes from his hospital bed to stand in the eye of a hurricane; Rather, meanwhile, becomes obsessed with Barthelme's stories and manages to evade facing up to his past.
Performed by the 78th St Lab ensemble, the show is occasionally astonishing in its invention but mostly scrappy and inconclusive. Barthelme made every word, every image count; 78th St Lab fail him by not doing the same.
· Until August 30. Box office: 0131-226 2428.
