The Jungle, by 2018 Genesis Prize winners Joe Robertson and Joe Murphy, to transfer to the West End

12 March 2018

Following outstanding critical acclaim, and a sold-out run at the Young Vic, Good Chance Theatre have announced the West End transfer of The Jungle. Written by Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson, directed by Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin, the play 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.

The Jungle will open at the Playhouse Theatre on 5 July. The Playhouse Theatre’s auditorium is to be completely reconfigured to accommodate Miriam Buether’s set design from the original production. The show, a National Theatre and Young Vic co-production with Good Chance Theatre, is presented by Sonia Friedman Productions, Tom Kirdahy and Hunter Arnold in the West End.

Playwrights Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson based The Jungle on their experiences in the Calais camp, where they founded the Good Chance Theatre for refugees.

They were awarded the Genesis Prize in January 2018. The only prize recognising outstanding mentoring of artistic talent, giving winners the opportunity to develop their work as mentors, the Genesis Prize will allow Murphy and Robertson to focus on their playwriting and to develop new projects which currently involve work in the UK and at the main centre for refugees and migrants in Paris.

Joe Robertson and Joe Murphy said: “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. The metamorphosis of the Playhouse is a bold statement: that we need new spaces for this conversation to happen, and that the stories of the people in this play belong on our most significant stages.”

For every performance, 40% of tickets will be priced at £25 or under and a proportion of tickets will be reserved for refugees and targeted groups to “maximise diversity and accessibility”. The majority of the original cast will transfer with the production, including actors from refugee backgrounds.

First tickets will go on general sale on 15 March.