Eating People is Easy

The problem is the intent. If this spoof of future cuisine is a satire, then it could do with a little more bite. A few lofty, and predictable, environmental worries are launched: there's a brief meditation on why eating people is wrong. There's even a darkly triumphant monologue from novelist cum actor Alan Bissett's character on a humanity doomed to feed on its senior citizens. But the quick-fire lines, and the slap-stick business around Andy Gray's final orgasm, make this more dystopian sit-com than sharp message.

There's also the worry that cannibalism as metaphor for consumerism has been done to death. The play repeats key ideas, reflecting a deeper lack of originality. Yes, we are raping the earth. Yes, the future looks bleak. But will a slapstick terrorist bantering with a corporate whore change this?

Reservations about Gregory Burke's script aside, David MacLennan's direction is sharp. He gets the actors playing up the gags, exaggerates their mannerisms and manages to gloss over the repetitious dialogue – and lack of characterisation – by hitting it at full tilt. Bisset and Denise Hoey are solid, but Gray is the star-turn.

It's a shame, and probably more disappointing because Burke has a reputation as one of Scotland's leading playwrights. The laughs come thick and fast, but they didn't give today's pies an aftertaste.