Welcome to the Jungle — full of tears and laughter
LIFE in the former Jungle refugee camp in Calais may not have been as miserable as you might think. The human spirit has an impressive habit of sticking two fingers up at adversity and that’s what ensures that this chastening, salutary and sometimes distressing play about the camp still manages to be thoroughly enjoyable. Directed by Stephen Daldry, the man behind The Crown on Netflix, the show has transferred from the Young Vic to the West End. It was written by Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson based on their experience of setting up a theatre at the camp in 2015. The result is a two-and-three-quarterhour snapshot of the people who passed through, fleeing war and persecution. The particular novelty is Miriam Buether’s design which recreates the Jungle — and sits us inside. One section of the audience perch on benches made of ply as though at the camp’s Afghan café. Harrowing accounts of long journeys are leavened with music, dancing and juggling. You could almost believe they were having a good time, but the tales of loss, torture and abuse remind us that the suffering of many of these people is almost unimaginable. Ben Turner brings stoicism to the Afghan café owner, who proudly displays a review by the late restaurant critic A.A. Gill; and the camp’s history is narrated by the bearlike Ammar Haj Ahmad. Jo McInnes gets to swear her head off as the battleaxe running the women and children’s refuge, while Trevor Fox offers light relief as a random Geordie vagrant. This is a uniquely accomplished benefit gig (takings from a post show collection go to refugees) that is both fun and moving.