Theatre review: Limited Editions, Scottish Storytelling Centre, Edinburgh

IN MY DAY, youth theatre meant adult drama performed with more gusto than talent by large casts of children. Now, thanks to companies such as Edinburgh's Strange Town, the kids are doing custom-built shows that demonstrate what they can do, not what they can't.

It's a principle taken one step further by Strange Town Young Company which lets 18 to 25-year-olds showcase not only their acting talent – which is considerable – but also their writing skills. Limited Editions is a compendium of six 20-minute plays written by Tim Primrose, Amy Drummond, Beth Godfrey and Sam Siggs, who either direct or act in one another's work.

Remember the names because all have a keen ear for dialogue and, even in this brief format, a keen sense of dramatic tension and authorial purpose. Even a fanciful comedy such as Siggs's Shitdogs, in which a tiger escapes from the zoo, is actually an investigation of power structures among the disenfranchised.

Behind the gothic excess of Primrose's Pussy Whipped, in which a polite wine bar conversation erupts into a murderous frenzy, is a serious status game. Godfrey, who finds power through cake in Primrose's play, paints a touching portrait of a shotgun marriage in To Have and To Hold, while Drummond turns in two well-observed character studies in Please Give 1 and 2. All this and an explosive coup de thtre in Siggs's The Pest makes for an evening that's as fulfilling today as it is promising for tomorrow.