The Good Chance Theatre, National Theatre, and Young Vic co-production of The Jungle, which is currently playing an acclaimed run in the West End, will debut in the U.S. this winter at St. Ann’s Warehouse.
The waterfront theatre in Brooklyn will be transformed for the production, which invites audiences into the now-closed camp in Calais, France, known as The Jungle—where thousands of refugees from Africa and the Middle East built a society while they waited for their “good chance” passage to Britain.
The Jungle is written by Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson with direction by Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin. Performances will begin at St. Ann's December 4.
The production, which made its critically acclaimed debut at the Young Vic last December, tackles immigration, border control, and the lived experiences of refugees. In its U.S. premiere at St. Ann’s, The Jungle will invite theatregoers into a ramshackle Afghani café, made of plywood tables, ill-matching chairs and benches, and a rickety patchwork roof. Here, the everyday details of endless cycles of survival and threat will unfold.
“The Jungle blew me away. Coupled with Sarah Hickson’s powerful photos of the original camp in its final days, the reality of what’s happening to massive numbers of innocent people seeking shelter and safety comes bursting to life on stage,” comments Susan Feldman, St. Ann’s Warehouse artistic director. “The authors have written an elegy to a place where despite enormous hardship and desperation, everyday people joined together to survive on their own creativity and interdependence. We cannot turn away from the negligence and dehumanization our government would like us to believe ‘these people’ somehow deserve.”
Tickets for The Jungle will go on sale July 25. For more information visit StAnnsWarehouse.org.