Author: www.londontheatre.co.uk
Producer Sonia Friedman, refugee charity Good Chance and the National Theatre have invited Home Secretary Sajid Javid to a special performance of The Jungle, which told the stories of a number of refugees based in Calais.
Having premiered at the Young Vic in 2017, Joe Robertson and Joe Murphy’s play transferred to the Playhouse Theatre in the West End last summer. The playwrights based the piece on their experiences volunteering in the Calais migrant camp, where they went on to set up temporary arts centres, and eventually the charity Good Chance.
It closed as scheduled in the autumn, and the production is currently running in New York, but on Twitter, Sonia Friedman Productions said they’d produce a ‘special performance’ of the play in London for Javid and the Home Office following an invitation to see the show by Good Chance.
This comes at a time when Javid has faced criticism for his handling of the current migrant situation.
Javid and the Home Office haven’t responded publicly to the invitation. It is also unclear, should a performance of The Jungle was to go ahead in London, whether it would be open to the public.
Last year, Encore Tickets and London Theatre announced they donatedmoney they made through ticket sales to The Jungle to Good Chance. The money raised, which totalled £16,000, contributed to the extension of Good Chance’s pop-up theatre project in Paris, where refugees in the city are encouraged to join in artistic workshops.
Informed by their experiences from running a theatre at the camp, the two young playwrights have chronicled the desperate, hopeful stories of the camp’s residents in what is a thoroughly affecting piece of theatre.
Source: https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/theatre-news/news/sonia-friedman-says-she%E2%80%99ll-bring-the-jungle-back-to-london-for-sajid-javid
