Every year, Edinburgh throws up new gangs of whey-faced young comedy turks who perform late-night, studenty sketch shows in dingy studios. Fringe debutants Plastic Cowboys seem more virginal than most, although that is partly because the trio - Adam Amos, James Howick and Robin Savage - cast themselves as schoolkids in a slight but strangely affecting comic play, Growing Nowhere. With barely a prop and no set, they conjure up the first year of secondary school in all its troubling glory. It is as if Grange Hill had been staged by David Lynch.
The hero is Timmy Price. He is eager to grow up, but his demented imaginary friend won't leave him alone. Meanwhile, Hamiq is struggling to adapt to British ways, and son-of-a-single-mum Richard finds he has lots in common with the janitor, who must be about his long-lost dad's age.
This is less a comic drama than a collection of oddly angled snapshots of life on the threshold of puberty. But the pictures Plastic Cowboys take are impressive, as much for their understated poignancy as for their humour. The trio show a promising facility for integrating hurt and forlornness into comedy.
They are trained actors, and it shows. Without the comedian's instinct to undermine, the three commit to portraying this assemblage of tongue-tied teachers, bullied fatties and protective mothers. Their discipline and economy, and the unshowy charm of this now-wistful, now-wild schooldays playlet, bode well. B-pluses all round.
· Until August 26. Box office: 0131-556 6550.
