Theatre review: Rust, Assembly Roxy, Edinburgh

Rust, Assembly Roxy, Edinburgh * * *

In Betrayal, Harold Pinter told the story backwards to liven it up a bit; and in The Real Thing, Tom Stoppard examined the subject with an intense self-absorption that even many Stoppard fans can barely tolerate.

Kenny Emson, whose adultery play Rust is playing to packed houses in the basement at Assembly Roxy, is certainly no Pinter, and perhaps only a mini-Stoppard; but in Eleanor Rhode’s beautifully-turned-out production - co-produced by HighTide and the Bush Theatre, with design and light by Max Johns and Jess Bemberg - his story of a well-to-do wife and mother and a slightly less wealthy husband and father, and their weekly meetings in the little flat they rent for the purpose, proceeds with great flair and assurance, some wit, and the odd moment of mild poignancy, as the couple come to realise just how much of a mess they are in.

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The problem is, though, that both Daniel and Nadia are so foolishly arrogant and over-entitled about entering into the affair in the first place, and so dim-wittedly surprised when they find they have unleashed something they can’t quite control, that it is impossible to give a damn about either of them, far less about the nasty little set of rules Nadia sets down for the conduct of the relationship. “More money than sense,” my grandmother used to say about people who, sadly, had enough to cash to finance their own stupidities; and if you want to see a play about two prime examples of that demographic, then Rust is definitely the show for you.

Until 25 August

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