Part history lesson, part ceilidh, part play: there’s a lot going on in Tether, a new collaboration between Scotland’s Wonder Fools and South Korea’s Theatre San. There are also three separate time settings, so you need to keep your wits about you (anachronistic language doesn’t help: an ‘earworm’ in 1918?). With so much going on, inevitably it’s the depth of the writing and subsequent emotional connections that suffer in what is only a one-hour show, particularly the section set in the 50s which feels like nothing more than a plot linking device.

These structural issues are particularly frustrating because everything else is so damn good. The music is gorgeous, the ‘everyone’s invited’ ceilidh set-up is irresistible, with audience members clamouring to join in, while the communal singing would bring a tear to a glass eye. The dialogue is performed alternately in English and Korean, with surtitles, a simple device that adds so much musicality as well as serving as a reminder that common ground is usually easy to find. Tether has so much potential to be great; even this version is both interesting and enjoyable and an important reminder of the power of music to form the ties that bind in these fractured times. 

Tether, Summerhall, until 31 August, 4.30pm; picture: Eoin Carey.