海角大神

For the next month, when ticket holders enter St. Ann鈥檚 Warehouse in New York, they won鈥檛 see a conventional stage with rows, arcs, or circles of chairs. Just a vast tent.聽

It鈥檚 the setting for 鈥淭he Jungle,鈥� an immersive theater production. The tent is a makeshift restaurant inside a refugee camp. There鈥檚 dirt underfoot. Long tables with benches for seating and ketchup at every place setting await audience members. Ushers guide them to their places via the set鈥檚 kitchen area, which includes a dusting of flour that is more than just a prop.聽

鈥淪ome lucky people get some freshly made naan,鈥� says Naomi Webb, executive director of Good Chance Theatre, the British company that created the show, opening Feb. 18. 鈥淚t depends on where you sit.鈥�

鈥淭he Jungle鈥� isn鈥檛 dinner theater, though. Nor is it connected to the novel by Upton Sinclair about Chicago鈥檚 stockyards. Instead it鈥檚 a heavyweight drama about the migrant camp in Calais, France 鈥� called 鈥渢he Jungle鈥� by some 鈥撀爓hich was demolished by authorities in 2016. The play attempts to re-create the experience of living in the refugee camp. Sometimes it鈥檚 harrowing: Early on, fake tear gas billows through the flaps of the tent. But it is also heartwarming and hopeful. By putting the audience in such close proximity to the characters, whose stories play out on runway-style stages surrounded by the restaurant tables,聽鈥淭he Jungle鈥� aims to bring more understanding to the migrant experience.聽聽

鈥淪ince the Jungle got dismantled, there鈥檚 been hardly any kind of media attention to what鈥檚 happening in Calais,鈥� says Elena Ewence, a volunteer with Project Play, a nonprofit that gives displaced children in the area, and nearby Dunkirk, spaces and opportunities for recreation. 鈥淪o the fact that [鈥淭he Jungle鈥漖 is being shown is really important because a lot of people aren鈥檛 aware of what鈥檚 going on. ... It鈥檚 really easy to forget these are real human beings.鈥�

鈥淭he Jungle鈥� tells the intersecting stories of several individuals who aspire to cross the channel to Britain, about 30 miles from the port of Calais. Whether by boat or tunnel, it鈥檚 a risky journey. So thousands of people set up tents and shacks in the rapidly expanding camp. Soon after an Afghan man named Salar (Ben Turner) creates his restaurant, he hosts a sort of town-hall meeting in the tent. Representatives for various enclaves 鈥� including Eritreans, Kurds, Sudanese, and Syrians 鈥� discuss how to quell violent clashes between refugees. The situation is complicated by the arrival of well-meaning, but often naive, aid workers from Britain.聽

鈥淭here is a big, big, big question in the play ... which is, 鈥楥an we live together?鈥欌�� says Ammar Haj Ahmad, a Syrian actor who plays the optimistic narrator, before a recent rehearsal. 鈥淢y character, at the beginning, says, 鈥業t takes pain to live side by side.鈥� And at the end of the play, he says, 鈥榃ell, it takes pain to live side by side. It takes even more to live alone.鈥欌�澛�

When 鈥淭he Jungle鈥� debuted in London in 2017, it was widely praised for its complexity and nuance. Call it theater v茅rit茅. Playwrights Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson based the drama on their own experiences of living in the encampment. Ms. Webb says that the British duo were en route to Munich via Calais when they visited the camp.聽

鈥淭hey met a group of guys who said, 鈥極h, come and sit with us,鈥欌�� says Ms. Webb, who later also spent time in the camp. 鈥淭hey played some music together and shared the story about their journey. They stayed for a week and met so many people. 鈥� And they really had a sense that everybody there really wanted to talk about what had happened to them and [tell] the stories and the journeys that they鈥檝e been on.鈥�

The playwrights later returned to the United Kingdom and raised money to purchase a portable geodesic dome to establish the Good Chance Theatre in the camp. (The same dome, tagged with graffiti, is mounted at the rear of St. Ann鈥檚 Warehouse where it functions as a backdrop to the set as well as a backstage area for the actors.) The cast of the first production in London in 2017 included several refugees from the camp. Some of the original cast members, including Mr. Turner and Mr. Haj Ahmad, have returned for this production of 鈥淭he Jungle,鈥� which is once again co-directed by television and theater veterans Stephen Daldry (鈥淭he Crown,鈥� 鈥淏illy Elliot鈥�) and Justin Martin (鈥淭he Crown,鈥� 鈥淧rima Facie鈥�).聽

鈥淥ne of the first questions I asked about doing it this time around was, 鈥榃hat is the show now?鈥欌�� says Mr. Turner, sitting next to a window with a view of the underside of the Brooklyn Bridge. 鈥淪tephen and Justin, after watching the show, one of the run throughs, said that actually all the narratives within the show that have always been there are suddenly feeling a lot more relevant. Like the Afghan story in this show, because of what鈥檚 going on in Afghanistan at the moment, suddenly seems to hit in a different way.鈥澛�

鈥淭he Jungle,鈥� which had a previous engagement at St. Ann鈥檚 Warehouse in 2018, takes on a different context and timbre depending on the city. The production sometimes includes question-and-answer sessions at the end of the play. When it played in San Francisco聽in 2019, audiences saw parallels between the characters in the story and the Bay Area鈥檚 homeless population. This time around, Ms. Webb expects there will be conversations about migrants who have been bused from Southern border states to New York. Good Chance is partnering with the Brooklyn Community Foundation鈥檚 Immigrant Rights Fund to raise money to support its work.

Ms. Ewence, from Project Play, says a person she knows who saw the play called it 鈥渧ery, very powerful.鈥� 鈥淚 believe it partially inspired them to come [to Calais] and volunteer.鈥澛犅�

The honesty of the emotions opens the hearts of the audience, says Mr. Haj Ahmad, a Syrian refugee who did not experience the camp in Calais. He says he feels changed each time he performs the show.

Ruth Yemane, a new cast member, adds, 鈥淭he thing with refugees in general is they鈥檙e demonized and people see them as kind of a burden. ... But I think in this play, it does a really good job of showing each individual and their journey and making them human and creating that connection.鈥�

The characters have to bridge their own divides. For example, Mr. Turner鈥檚 Afghan character, who has a background as a lawyer, comes to discover common ground with an Eritrean woman as well as an upper-class British volunteer. The microcosm within the camp can also be viewed as a proxy for the wider issue of harmoniously integrating migrants in their new countries.聽聽

鈥淲hat I love about this play is that we don鈥檛 try to solve the problem,鈥� says the actor. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not trying to wrap everything up in a bow. It鈥檚 messy. Corners are blurred. There鈥檚 a whole lot of gray. It鈥檚 not black and white. It鈥檚 contradictory. The characters are contradictory. They love, they hate, they unite. They have preconceived ideas and judgments towards each other. But then they come together in the best way.鈥澛�

鈥淭he Jungle鈥� runs at St. Ann鈥檚 Warehouse in New York from Feb. 18 through March 19, and then is at聽Harman Hall in Washington, D.C., from March 28 through April 16. Due to mature content, 鈥淭he Jungle鈥� is recommended for ages 12 and above.聽