NEW STAGES: REVIEWS

Brilliant Traces

Cumbernauld Theatre (on tour)

It's easy enough for dramatists to put two characters into a room together but more difficult to dream up an original and plausible reason to keep them there long enough for drama to develop. In , Cindy Lou Johnson finds an exotic solution to the problem.

On the run from her wedding in Arizona, Rosannah takes refuge from an Alaskan "white-out" (violent snowstorm) in the isolated cabin of the reclusive Henry Harry. The deadly white-out lasts for days, confining the traumatized Rosannah and Henry to a term of reluctant intimacy, in which they battle towards mutual trust.

As she so ably demonstrated at Edinburgh's Lyceum in two recent productions, director Caroline Hall is completely at ease with American theatrical idiom ( also launches Hall's new company, Diva). Nor could she wish for better support from her cast. Fiona Bell's Rosannah flares with high-octane emotional afterburn, which eventually ignites the inner embers of Sam Graham's politely intense Harry.

Initially slow to get to the point and in need of editing (several minutes of sub-Pinteresque repetitive dialogue are mannered hesitancy rather than poetic rhythm), has its flaws as a play, but is redeemed by Hall's sensitive, finely-tuned production.