Welcome to the UK
The Bunker Theatre, London

EXPECTATIONS were high for a new theatre piece focusing on the experiences of refugees and asylum-seekers, all too often victims to the vagaries of the Home Office and, at the centre of Welcome to the UK, is a great deal of heart.

The PSYCHEdelight company was set up by writer, director and psychotherapist Sophie NL Besse, who has delivered drama sessions in the Calais Jungle and their first show Borderline drew on real stories from people stuck there in the freezing cold, mud and fear.

And it drew in some real people too — Besse’s company includes refugees and this time round she has worked with the Women for Refugee Women drama group.

But something has gone very wrong with the plan here, indicated by the fact that a 60-minute show overran by 30 minutes. There are gaps where script meets improvised dialogue, miscommunication between actors and some worrying racist tropes.

Having a black actor read Shakespeare’s Romeo very badly and “teaching” the speech to another refugee who attempts to parrot it and fails invites mockery rather than sympathy. It was a heart-sinking moment, eliciting memories of grim 1970s sitcom Mind Your Language, in which racial stereotypes were played for laughs.

Akin to a circus-cum-game show, there are gags aplenty yet, unfortunately, some genuinely poignant moments are sacrificed.

A Gambian woman, clearly duped into a marriage which will see her trafficked, held prisoner and raped, stands at the rear of the stage like a bartered Miss Haversham. She is, ironically, not an actor in the sense of controlling any narrative — she is simply paraded.

And there's a baffling caricature of a journalist, a male actor in blond wig and a red sequinned dress. It may be clumsy satire, it may be misogyny in drag. Either way, it adds little to the drama.

There were howls of laughter from parts of the audience in virtually every scene and it’s a shame that much of the guffawing from some — which left most frowning with puzzlement — seriously undermined some of the script. A reference to “17,000 people drowned in the Med” is almost inaudible as friends of the cast scream with laughter at their chums onstage.

As a theatrical experience, this is not a cohesive piece of drama. Of course, there’s nothing amiss about using dark humour and there’s always room for a bit of improv but these elements have not been marshalled.

There are heart-rending stories to tell and the real authors of them deserve a better editor.

Runs until February 16, box office: bunkertheatre.comhttp://bunkertheatre.com.