Seventeen-year-old Jack went to a party and can't remember anything much about it. Except now he's got more than a blinding hangover - he's got a sexually transmitted infection. Meanwhile, his 15-year-old sister Zoe has been saving herself for the right man; unlike Jack, she wants to be able to remember her first sexual encounter. Their parents, Suzie and Nick, are barely doing it at all; in fact, they're barely talking. Suzie has retreated from the family, taking refuge in her work, and Nick is taking his frustrations out on the kids. The news of Jack's escapade throws the whole family into turmoil.
There will be plenty of shows on the Fringe that are both sexier and showier than Virgins, but few that are quite as truthful. Like Jack Retallack's previous hit, Hannah and Hanna, this little show has an unpretentious charm and directness, taking a subject that might easily have been treated like a government advertisement for safer adolescent sex into a knotty examination of the family itself, our attitudes towards sex and pleasure, and what happens when the shine rubs off a marriage and we forget both the thrill of sexual encounter or indeed what it was like to be young.
Liz Cooke's clever set is designed around a miniature house - like something out of a children's story, there are fairytale images of going into the dark wood to discover yourselfa and Fleur Darkin's choreography offers a glimpse into the emotional state of a group of people who often find that words fail them entirely, or who are trying to hide their feelinga or even their histories. There are moments when the energy dips and it feels a little earnest, but this is a show that never shirks from telling uncomfortable truths.
· Until August 28. Box office: 0131-226 2428.
