All The Queen's Children

 All The Queen’s Children is a well-intentioned, morally laudable show, but despite the weighty subject matter the teenage Reading Youth Theatre and Nothing To Declare fail to produce a truly convincing production.

There are some impressive moments with good physical synchronisation from the 16-strong cast. But in places the inexperience of the young actors is painfully obvious, with some cast in entirely unconvincing roles.

The tagline scene on the promotional material includes four teenage refugees arriving in a British bed and breakfast after travelling from all over the globe. This B&B doesn’t really materialise in any clear way, summing up a play which struggles to reach its most basic goals.

The plot seeks to touch base with as many different tales of immigrant plight as it can within its hour-long running time. Sex-trafficked Eastern Europeans, Middle Eastern refugees and migrants sardine-packed into the back of lorries all get a mention, but no one story has much depth to it.

Having all characters speak English keeps dodgy attempts at foreign accents to a bare minimum, but makes differentiating nationalities difficult. The cosmopolitan intentions are clear here, but it comes at the expense of any authenticity. On the plus side, contrasting the noble, innocent refugees with a bunch of spoiled "gap yah" Brits abroad is a crude but entertaining touch.

There are inklings of young talent and a genuine empathy with downtrodden refugees, but All The Queen’s Children compares poorly to more professional shows at the Fringe.