Times are hard in a small isolated Scottish community in the mid-19th century. But the leader of the community promises that a better life is on the way with the arrival of Sinclair, a man he assures them will offer hope and a decent future. But then a body is found washed up on the shore, and soon the community has become a mob.
You have to wonder what is going on at the Traverse, home of Scotland's new writing. Like its East Coast Chicken Supper, Riccardo Galgani's drama is all promise and no play. In fact, it feels suspiciously like the synopsis for a play that he hasn't yet got round to writing, but here it is on the main Traverse stage as if it were the real thing. Is dramaturgy dead in Scotland?
Galgani really can write, and there is a mixture of undecorative brutality and delicacy in his play that is very pleasing and to which Philip Wilson's beautifully acted production is fully attuned. But the drama lacks shape, drive and strong characterisations; too often, it becomes almost a parody so you expect somebody to pop up with the announcement that there is something nasty in the woodshed.
· Until Sunday. Box office: 0131-228 1404.
