The show, a sell-out at the Young Vic theatre, will open this July at the Playhouse Theatre in London’s West End with tickets on sale from Thursday (15th March).
The immersive play, which follows the lives of refugees in the Calais camp, referred to as the Jungle, will officially open on 5th July with previews starting from 16th June. The show is currently booking until 3rd November.
Writers, Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson, who based the play on their experiences in the Calais camp during which they founded the Good Chance Theatre for refugees, commented: “We’re thrilled to bring this play to new audiences and to the West End, in a totally transformed Playhouse Theatre, a stone’s throw from Parliament.”
Synopsis: The Jungle
The production is set in Europe’s largest unofficial refugee camp, the Calais Jungle, which in 2015, became a temporary home for more than 10,000 people.
In the play you’ll meet the hopeful and resilient residents of the Jungle – just across the Channel. It tells stories of loss, fear, community and hope as well as the Calais camp’s creation and its eventual destruction.
The Playhouse Theatre will undergo a transformation to host the performance. The auditorium stalls will be completely reconfigured to house the set design as seen at the Young Vic, where audiences were invited to sit at the benches and tables of the Afghan café in the Calais camp.
The Dress Circle will be renamed the ‘Cliffs of Dover’ and will allow unique views over the performance space, which extends out beyond the proscenium arch and over the stalls. This transformation will reduce the capacity of the theatre to 450 seats, to more closely recreate the intimate and immediate experience audiences had at the Young Vic.
The majority of the original cast will transfer with the production, including actors from refugee backgrounds, some of whom experienced the Jungle first-hand. The cast includes: Ammar Haj Ahmad, Mohammad Amiri, Girum Bekele, Elham Ehsas, Trevor Fox, Moein Ghobsheh, Ansu Kabia, Alex Lawther, John Pfumojena, Rachel Redford, Rachid Sabitri, Mohamed Sarrar, Ben Turner and Nahel Tzegai.
Group information
Group tickets will be available, and organisers should call 020 7206 1174 for more details.
For more information, visit thejungleplay.co.uk.
Image: Ammar Haj Ahmad (Photo credit: David Sandison).
