We are in the waiting room at the end of the world. Outside a train shudders to halt in a scream of engine and a puff of smoke. On the chequered floor of the waiting room a dance of death unfolds, a story of crimes of passion and doomed love played out to the moody, smoky sounds of the tango.
This production is undeniably atmospheric, but it is all style and very little substance. Before long you start hoping that the apocalypse will arrive sooner rather than later. It is good to see The Shysters - a company that works with actors who have learning disabilities - getting main house stage at the Traverse. But when a show like this is put on a main stage it hast to be judged by the standards which would be applied to any other company on the same stage. This production is just too slight to justify itself.
The piece succeeds in creating a languid atmosphere of passion, but it holds back from really stretching the actors and seems to content to play to their limitations rather than their strengths. It wants to be a weepie, but it just ends up rather wet.
· Until August 15. Box office: 0131 228 1404
