I was planning on writing a proper review on The Jungle, which I saw at the Playhouse Theatre on the 15th September. I don’t honestly feel like I can, it would be too intrusive to critique such a personal show, whose aim wasn’t to be revolutionary in its dramaturgy and methodology, was not to win an Olivier (although it deserves one). It’s only aim was for the audience to go away asking the exact same question I asked myself after the show: ‘What can I do?’
I didn’t think I could be shocked anymore when watching theatre (bare in mind, I’ve seen Sarah Kane’s Cleansed at the Dorfman) being an avid theatre goer you almost become numb to such events because real life is shocking in itself. But this show genuinely shocked me, not in the Cleansed way but in the – this is real, this happened, this is happening, way.
To sum up, this show used immersive theatre to depict the story of The Jungle, the 2015-6 refugee camp in Calais and real life people who inhabited it. It was raw, real and moving. Immersive theatre is hard, it can be messy and even cringey at times, but even me having a seat all the way in the heavens, I felt like I was right there in the camp with them. Like I said, I don’t want to write a review, I just want to use this blog at a platform to promote this show and if you come out asking the same question then this is what you can do:
Help Refugees https://donate.helprefugees.org/campaigns/donate/
History of The Jungle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calais_Jungle
Get tickets http://thejungleplay.co.uk/
(It also calls Theresa May out – HARD – which is an added bonus)
Curtain Call 