Sinister idealism

In his History of Britain 3000BC --AD1603, Simon Schama remarked that history "is at all times a dialogue between the alien and the familiar". David Harrower's much anticipated drama gives that dialogue a tortured poignancy, as a bickering couple from Glasgow are stranded in remote countryside following a car breakdown, and meet three individuals more at home with tales of the Roman invasion and Bonnie Prince Charlie than they are with 21st-century modernisation.

Following the success of plays such as David Greig's Outlying Islands last year, it is striking how popular the concept of rural isolation is currently among young playwrights - and its effect on characters weaned on the city's carbon monoxide fumes.

It is tempting to speculate that while mobile phones and the internet reflect our social obsession with being eternally contactable, the desire to be out of touch is the ultimate urban fantasy, even if in Harrower's latest play it becomes increasingly unclear whether the couple - Valerie and Euan - have stumbled on a Garden of Eden or a serpent's den.

Fiona Watt's stone-wall dominated set looms up sternly, transforming alternately into a Roman ruin or the farmer's cottage where Petey, his wife Ida, and their daughter Christine reside. Firmly rooted in rural realism, the production seems initially unremarkable - until the sexual chemistry between Suzanne Donaldson's strident Christine and John Mackay's wirily nervous Euan smashes though the politeness between the farmer's family and their unwilling visitors.

Seeming to play on rural and urban differences, ultimately Harrower's quietly powerful drama illustrates how people sculpt stories of themselves to hide from the truth. History allows Petey to hide from his predicament, while a busy city lifestyle conceals the gaping hole in Euan and Valerie's relationship - and the reality for all is as unforgiving as a harsh Highlands wind.

Until 23 August. Box office: 0131 228 1404.