Wisdom, in Sweden this bewildering muddle of a drama played for two sell-out seasons at the Stockholm Stadsteatern: there’s certainly no accounting for national taste. Whatever its Swedish merits, Jonas Hassen Khemiri’s debut piece has got lost in Frank Perry’s translation and now attracts an unfortunate salvo of double-barrelled adjectives: heavy-handed, long-winded and one-note.

When, near the start, a couple of boisterous young “audience members” (Gregg Chillin and Chris Nayak) interrupt a tedious theatrical costume drama about the buccaneering moor Abulkasem, we’re with our Swedish friends in the approbation stakes. This, we think, will be amusing and mould-breaking and play interestingly with the dramatic form. It doesn’t. Instead, Khemiri embarks on a peculiar allegory, as the name Abulkasem is kicked back and forth, appropriated by some characters and discussed in depth. Is Abulkasem a mythic hero or a bogeyman? After a chunk of this oblique examination, do any of us care?

The vague theme of these loosely connected episodes, none of which are developed enough to be gripping, is of immigration into Europe. Khemiri worries, in a frustratingly wafty way, at the idea of culture and origins, and of how we tend to define ourselves in relation to and, often, in opposition to a common cause. “Abulkasem”, we realise, could easily be replaced by “Muslim”, a similarly baggage-laden word for many in Europe.

It’s a clever enough idea in theory, but Khemiri isn’t a sufficiently strong writer to make this sing dramatically, which leaves director Lucy Kerbel and her four-strong cast with little they can do. Viss Elliott Safavi is nicely animated as a young student who refuses to be chatted up in a bar but as clunking concept continually triumphs over character, it’s a thankless task.
Until 28 March (020 7478 0100, www.sohotheatre.com).