The question in Touch is who exactly needs saving? Is it apparent would-be suicide Emma, who leaps from a bridge into the water below? Or is it middle-aged Vernon, who jumps in after her - even though he cannot swim. Dried off and ensconced in Vernon's sad little flat, Emma is soon plunging into the shallows of his life and trying to save him from a future of accountancy, white bread and processed cheese. But maybe mouthy, bright-as-a-button Emma is not quite all she seems. And does Vernon use the telescope in his flat for looking at the stars or something more sinister?
Bill Dare's intelligent if old-fashioned play draws on familiar genres like a magpie, and keeps you guessing about who holds the power in Emma and Vernon's relationship. Just when you think that it is going to be a thriller, it blossoms into a touching (not quite) love story, a low-key and optimistic hymn to the need to reach out and make contact in an ever-expanding universe.
There are problems here, particularly in the character of Emma whose bright, brittle persona does not quite ring true, even though Lucinda Millward manages to invest her with a certain charm. It is telling that the lines that garner the biggest laughs are when Emma says of her notebook, "I put all my silly thoughts in here", and Vernon tartly replies, "It doesn't look big enough."
Rupert Holliday Evans gives real depth to Vernon, suggesting that beneath his crusty, stooped exterior is a man who realises that he no longer wants to be a voyeur of life, but a real participant. The show might be life-changing for Emma and Vernon, but it won't be for audiences, even though it is neatly written and deftly performed.
· Until August 27. Box office: 0131-556 6550
