Home Secretary Sajid Javid invited to special performance of The Jungle by Good Chance Theatre

Good Chance Theatre, which created the recent production of The Jungle both at the Young Vic and in the West End, has invited Home Secretary Sajid Javid to watch a special performance of the show.

The piece, which is based on experiences in the unofficial refugee camp based in Calais in 2015, closed its West End run earlier this year and is currently running in New York until 27 January.

In a letter to the Home Secretary, the show's writers Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson said: "The issues that The Jungle explores feel more relevant than ever given recent events. We…feel a responsibility to make this offer, to host a special performance of the play on its return from the US in order to give the Home Secretary and his colleagues the opportunity to hear about the histories of the people who are making these journeys [through Calais], and to meet people who have themselves come through Calais and are now working and succeeding in the UK."

Major theatre institutions including the National Theatre, the Young Vic and Sonia Friedman Productions (all of whom co-produced the 2018 West End run of the show) as well as charity Help Refugees have pledged their support to the special performance.

The Jungle first opened at the Young Vic in December 2017, and received rave reviews. To date it has been seen by over 100,000 people, with its sell-out run at St Ann's Warehouse in New York being the venue's fasting selling show ever. The play also won a South Bank Award in the theatre category.

A full copy of the letter is below:

Dear Home Secretary,

On behalf of all of Good Chance Theatre, we would like to offer you and your colleagues at the Home Office a special performance of The Jungle, in an attempt to start a conversation about why people seek asylum, the worsening conditions in Calais which are causing people to risk their lives, and to try to promote a greater understanding of the human beings behind the headlines.

The Jungle is an award-winning piece of theatre borne out of experiences from the former unofficial refugee camp and migrant camp in Calais in 2015. Produced by Good Chance Theatre, National Theatre, Sonia Friedman Productions and Young Vic Theatre, it has played to audiences on both sides of the Atlantic and features professional actors from refugee backgrounds, many of whom lived in the Jungle camp.

The show has now finished its run in London's West End and is currently playing in New York. However, the issues that it explores feel more relevant than ever given recent events. We'd therefore be keen to put on a special performance of the play when we return from the US, in order to give you and your colleagues the opportunity to hear about the histories of the people who are making these journeys, and to meet people who have themselves come through Calais and are now working and succeeding in the UK.

We make this offer in good faith, with the desire to use this opportunity to foster greater and more human understanding.

We look forward to hearing from you in due course.

Yours sincerely,

Joe Murphy, Joe Robertson and all at Good Chance Theatre