In March 2002, the Israeli army invaded the West Bank city of Ramallah, putting the entire population under virtual house arrest.
Adapted by David Greig from the diaries of the Palestinian lawyer and writer Raja Shehadeh, this one-man show tells what happens when the world shrinks: "The perimeters of my house are all that are left of Palestine." Very much part of the fashion for theatre based on real-life experiences, Bulbul is a cut above most for several reasons: the directness and honesty of the staging, Christopher Simon's exquisitely understated performance and the even-handedness of Shehadeh's text as it charts the extraordinary power of resistance that comes from ordinary people trying to get on with their lives under appalling duress.
Often this kind of theatre feels like a whipping-up of the audience until at the final bow when we rise to our feet and cheer the resilience of the human spirit. Bulbul feels much more honest because it is quiet and because it grapples with the complexities of a situation where young Israeli soldiers terrorise in the name of freedom, Palestinian politicians fail their people and the Arab TV stations turn suffering into a daily soap opera, but where people just carry on living.
· Until August 28. Box office: 0131-228 1404.
