Geography: Europe > Northern Europe > United Kingdom
Year: 2018
Produced by: A Young Vic and National Theatre co-production with Good Chance Theatre; commissioned by the National Theatre
Creative Team: Written by Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson; directed by Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin
Synopsis: The Jungle stages the Calais refugee camp as a temporary city shaped by survival, political abandonment and community. Set inside the Afghan Café, the production follows refugees including Norullah from Afghanistan, Okot from Sudan, Helene from Eritrea and others from Syria, Afghanistan, Sudan and the wider Middle East and Africa, alongside British volunteers before the camp’s destruction. It is an ensemble drama staged in-the-round with music and movement. The play considers forced displacement across Europe, particularly attempts to reach the United Kingdom through informal and dangerous routes. The production also examines how national borders produce unequal categories of safety. Politically, it challenges nationalist narratives and presents the camp as a complexed social world shaped by solidarity and fear but also conflict and hope under European border regimes.
Source: Young Vic, Event listing for The Jungle: https://www.youngvic.org/whats-on/the-jungle Good Chance, Theatre production listing for The Jungle: https://www.goodchance.org.uk/thejungle The Guardian, Review for The Jungle, by Lyn Gardner: https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/dec/17/the-jungle-review-young-vic-london-calais-migrant-crisi s