Caledonia

It must have sounded like a great idea at the time: Scottish history, topical satire, acclaimed creative team.

Then again, William Paterson's crackpot scheme to establish a Scottish empire must have seemed equally promising to those who invested their life savings in the Darien expedition in the 17th century.

While the stakes were not quite so high when the National Theatre of Scotland and Edinburgh International Festival decided on this production, they have delivered an embarrassingly high-profile flop at a time when the NTS was in need of a big hit.

If this were a Fringe production by a fledgling company, staged in 2008, it might be praised for its ambition, topicality and cobbled-together charm. But this is the EIF, Scotland's national company and a writer with an outstanding CV. It's shocking that Caledonia is the best they've been able to come up with.

At first, Anthony Neilson's production seems deliberately ramshackle, as actors appear to miss their cues and arch delivery of dialogue falls flat, but as time goes on things don't get any better. The portrayal of MPs as pigs at a trough gets a laugh, as do comments about bankers delivered with sledgehammer subtlety, but Alistair Beaton's play is a lifeless, linear retelling of a truly fascinating story.

In productions of his own work, such as Realism and The Wonderful World of Dissocia, Neilson has proved himself a master of the sharp, shocking switch in tone, and he could perhaps have pulled off something similar here had the first part of the play been delivered in a full-on pantomime style. However, in order to achieve this he'd have had to completely re-write the script.

It's interesting that Beaton makes reference in his programme notes to “handing over” his play to a producer and director, perhaps in an effort to distance himself from the end product. Well he might, given that the clear highlight of the show – and really the only memorable moment – is Morna Young's serving girl playing her fiddle and singing a lament.