Yarn

A new production from Grid Iron is always cause for excitement - the company has a reputation for outstanding site-specific works. The site of this latest one, a co-production with Dundee Rep, is Verdant Works, a 19th century jute factory.

The significance of clothes is a broad theme - really much too broad for a piece of theatre lasting just over an hour. By far the most effective scenes in Yarn are those that are the most intimate: a grieving daughter (Itxaso Moreno) sorting through clothes, beloved by her mother, that she loathed wearing as a child; a young man (Kevin Lennon) imagining his grandparents embracing on a railway platform, inspired by an old coat.

Given the setting, there's surprisingly little about the actual manufacture of clothes. The opening scene brings back to life the factory's offices and incorporates a delicious gothic tale about a suffocated young Dundonian man, but the next time we're in a factory it's to be told of the harsh realities of an Indian sweat shop.

The latter scene lacks the emotional punch of what's come before - it's obvious, preachy and begs the question of where the company sourced the many costumes that feature in the show (some only for a matter of seconds). Next up is the story of an highly sexual Beirut student (Alia Alzougbi) who wears a full-face veil and robes, and comes across as more of a right-on box-ticking exercise or Sex & The City punchline than a living, breathing character like those more subtly portrayed earlier on.

Ironically, given that red wool guides the audience around the site, what Yarn lacks is any kind of narrative thread. Though very entertaining, the show tends to feel like an actors' improv game, albeit a very polished and rather expensive one (particularly if everything down to the school uniforms is ethically sourced).

At one point it appears as though the promenade route is about to be transformed into a catwalk - with the audience as unwitting models - but disappointingly nothing so confrontational happens, and instead there follows a brief, forgettable segment skirting around body confidence and celebrity magazines.

There are the seeds of about a dozen interesting plays here, set in various different centuries and countries. Yarn is definitely worth checking out if you're close to Dundee, but ultimately it is more of a trendy charity t-shirt than a well-worn, hand-knitted sweater of a show.