On September 13 1940, a ship set sail from Liverpool. Among the passengers were 90 children, evacuees being sent to a safer life in Canada. Four days into the voyage, the ship was torpedoed and sank. Only 11 evacuees survived.
Written by Nicola McCartney, the show is inspired by the true experience of two of the teenage survivors who spent 19 hours clinging to an upturned lifeboat.
Intended for the over-eights, but with an emotional and visual depth and texturing that makes it more mature, sophisticated and enjoyable than much you will find on the Fringe, it conjures both the dark watery depths of the mind while simultaneously evoking an acute sense of wartime Britain. This is grown-up stuff that doesn't shirk the realities of death.
It is difficult to fault: from Gill Robertson's direction that has the poetic swagger to match the script, to Karen Tennent's clever, economical design, and Suzanne Robertson and Isabelle Joss as the young girls who won't let go, even when all seems hopeless.
· Until August 28. Box office: 0131-226 2428.
