Ambitious but only half alive

Fragile! threads its way among a group of immigrants trying to make something of themselves in London. We're introduced to Marko, a Serbian stand-up comic, his flatmate Mila, a singer from Croatia, a small-time Bulgarian mafioso, a coke-sniffing foreign correspondent from Norway, and a sex-trafficking victim.

Tena Stivicic's drama earns points for ambition. The playwright draws together a potentially fascinating bunch of characters in a place that is insistently not home. The problem is they only come half alive. The relations between them just aren't sharp enough to make us feel the full range of the play's themes: cultural dislocation; the immigrant experience; big-city life and what Bulgarian Michi calls the 'bleeding Eastern European soul'.

There are many bitty, listless scenes and few subtle lilts of feeling, as Mila and friends pour out reminiscences and hard-luck stories. And the character of Gayle, who left New Zealand to 'escape the smell of wet sheep', is so awkwardly synthetic she seems like an afterthought.

Overacting abounds in Michael Gieleta's production, though Catherine Cusack is excellent as asylum-seeker Tiashi: you look at her eyes and you know her soul has moved out. But she can't rescue a chopped-together play that overdoses on smothered angst.

Until Sep 29, Arcola Theatre, 27 Arcola Street E8, Mon to Sat 8.15pm, £13, £9 concs, Tue pay what you can.
Tel: 020 7503 1646.
Rail: Dalston Kingsland

Fragile
Arcola Theatre
Arcola Street, E8 2DJ