An unexpected guest

Dramatically speaking, 2005 has thus far been the year of the prolific David Greig. Pyrenees ran recently at the Chocolate Factory, The Cosmonaut's Last Message is currently on at the Donmar and now comes this sparky and timely RSC commission.

One of Greig's favourite themes is the fallibility of human communication, an idea that Cosmonaut repeats to death. In The American Pilot, however, Greig has streamlined his take on the subject, to powerful comic and emotional effect.

In a small rural village in a country with overtones of Afghanistan, the eponymous military man has crashed his plane. Badly injured, he now lies in the barn of the kindly Farmer who found him.

No one is sure how to deal with this unexpected guest, which is why The Captain, a local warlord leading a group of rebels against the American-backed government, gets involved. Yet even he cannot decide whether The Pilot would be a greater boon to his people's struggle dead or alive.

Such a set-up is undoubtedly ripe with didactic possibilities, but Greig sensibly avoids making too many heavy-handed political points about America's self-granted superpower status. Instead, he gently and skilfully delineates the concerns of the residents of the impoverished village, whose distance from the epicentre of capitalism does not mean that they will pass up a good moneymaking opportunity.

Ramin Gray directs with a touch both light and assured, bringing off some wonderful scenes in which the actors, obviously all speaking English, make it clear that their linguistically challenged characters are fighting a losing battle to reconcile their two different tongues.

The only slip-up in the final preview that I attended came right at the end, where the impressive all-action denouement in panic-inducing darkness lacked vital clarity.

From a host of fine performances, David Rogers's Pilot, immobile of leg but animated of face and fundamentally gentle of nature, and Sinéad Keenan as The Farmer's headstrong teenage daughter, Evie, particularly stand out. Let's hope that London audiences will be given a chance to see Greig at his best.

The Other Place, Straford, in rep until 9 July. Information: 0870 609 1110.