True West

They say that every comedian longs to play Hamlet. The Comedians' Theatre Company however clearly have a yen for American drama with an absurdist edge.

After last year's Zoo Story it's the turn of Sam Shepard's ferocious look at two brothers self-destructing. Austin is a Hollywood screenwriter on the verge of success (maybe), who is taking the opportunity of house-sitting for his mother while he finishes his magnum opus. Any hopes of that, however, are shattered by the arrival of brother Lee, small-time crook and general scrounger.

So far, so sibling rivalry - uptight writer versus slobbish hobo. But when Lee tries to sell his modern cowboy idea to a visiting producer the roles suddenly switch. Lee attempts to write while Austin steals (toasters as it happens).

Not only are the brothers falling apart and getting smashed, so is their mother's house. In the intimacy of the Assembly's Edinburgh Suite this destruction gets very physical with typewriters being battered by golf clubs, toast flying around and a general trashing that makes the audience feel almost physically involved with the breakages.

Stand-ups Phil Nichol and Tom Stade play the brothers. Stade seems to have the plum role as the appalling but charismatic Lee. When Austin takes to the bottle, however, Nichol shakes off his buttoned-up respectability and gets down and dirty with a will. These are two terrific performances in two of the best male roles in recent American theatre.

This coruscating, blackly comic play is a modern classic and here it gets a production worthy of its stature.