Theatre, Damascus, Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh

David Greig's latest play, Damascus, draws once more on his Middle Eastern experiences. It opens the Traverse's festival season, and is his sixth collaboration with the company's outgoing director, Philip Howard. Greig, a leading light among Scotland's younger playwrights, has a wry sense of humour and an uncanny knack of getting under the skin of his characters.

Paul is the Scottish writer of Middleton Road, an English-language learning system encapsulating modern, multicultural Britain. With the two prank-playing children Jack and Naz, the romantically involved teenagers Sylvia and Duane, and the middle-class Frobishers, Middleton Road could almost be in Ambridge. However, what seems perfectly acceptable to Paul in terms of political content, religious attitudes and cultural situations among the denizens of Middleton Road is patently unacceptable in Damascus.

While trying to flog the programme to the ancient city's English Institute, Paul discovers that the path to cultural relations through language is fraught with difficulties. Greig adroitly introduces the story and its scenes through the mouth of a mysterious Ukrainian cocktail pianist. Elena (Dolya Gavanski) not only has a repertoire that ranges from Chopin to Arabic pop, she has a dry wit and outlook on life that she shares with us, her audience.

Paul, brilliantly played by Paul Higgins (star of last year's hit, Black Watch), is desperate to get back home to spend St Valentine's Day with his wife, from whom he seems distanced by more than geography. But delayed by bombing at Beirut airport, Paul finds himself making temporary contact with a new community and being seduced by the old city, while becoming more sensitive to Arabic issues.

Muna, the teacher whose scrutiny of his text throws up a variety of humorous and provocative exchanges, is given a well-rounded portrayal by Nathalie Armin. Their relationship develops, more in their minds than in reality, but Greig keeps us guessing as to the outcome.

Along with Higgins, the star of the show is Khalid Laith as Zakaria, the hotel receptionist who's cramped by his environment and his skewed vision of life.

Philip Howard's sure-footed production takes place on a smart set by Anthony MacIlwaine, with water a running theme - shimmering on a black back wall, and bubbling from an fountain. Accompanied by news stories running on Arabic TV in the background, and punctuated by Elena's commentary, Greig applies the lightest of touches to some serious political and ideological issues.

However, the unexpected turn of events at the end of the play reminds me of a peculiar crossword where the final solution is wrong, or is answering a clue to a different puzzle.

To 26 August, but not today, 13 or 20 (0131-228 1404)