Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – The devastating THE JUNGLE returns to St. Ann’s Warehouse, and it remains tremendous, essential theater

• By drediman
• March 1, 2023
• No Comments

One of the most vivid and powerful nights of theater that I’ve encountered over the past few years was St. Ann’s Warehouse 2018 presentation of The Jungle. Written by Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson and originally co-produced by the National Theatre and Young Vic Theatre in London (in collaboration with A Good Chance), the production has returned to New York for a month-long encore engagement (it subsequently travels to Washington, DC after its run here), and the experience is just as tremendous and devastating as I remember it. If you missed the show the first time around, I’d highly recommend that you snag a ticket if you can. The Jungle is essential, can’t-miss theater.

In short, the work is a searing reminder of the ongoing urgency surrounding the global refugee crisis. The Jungle tells the story of a refugee camp (after which the play is named) in Calais, France, just across the English Channel from the U.K. Given camp’s tenuous ongoing existence and the general feeling of being so close yet so far away from the promised land (i.e., England), tensions run dangerously high among the refugees, who have risked and sacrificed so much to get as far as they have.

Messrs. Murphy and Robertson have written a meaty, important play that covers the gamut of the refugee experience without feeling programmatic. The strength of the writing lies in its ability to straddle documentation and dramatization in a way that invites audiences to viscerally empathize with and even to some extent role play as part of the camp’s melting pot of refugees as they build of a community — with the help of intensely passionate volunteers — and go about their scrappy, makeshift lives. Indeed, not only is The Jungle a humanitarian story, it’s ultimately a human one, which makes the inevitable tragedy all the more soul-crushing.

The play has been given an immersive, muscular production by Stephen Daley and Justin Martin, whose aggressive staging thoroughly throttles audiences into the world of the piece. This immersion begins immediately as soon as you set foot inside St. Ann’s Warehouse (the interior of the flexible venue is all but recognizable). Much of the 2018 ensemble cast has returned for the encore New York run, and they’re more impactful and forceful than ever, acting as if their lives literally depended on it. Together, they weave a richly textured human tapestry that seethes of vitality.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

THE JUNGLE
Off-Broadway, Play
St. An’s Warehouse
2 hours, 45 minutes (with one intermission)
Through March 19