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Home , Alex Lawther, Blue Elephant Theatre, Dominic Rowan

PRESS RELEASE – Monday 11 June 2018

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TheJunglePlay.co.uk A NATIONAL THEATRE AND CO-PRODUCTION WITH GOOD CHANCE THEATRE

THE JUNGLE by Joe Murphy & Joe Robertson directed by & Justin Martin

 FULL CAST ANNOUNCED FOR CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED THE JUNGLE AND REHEARSAL PICTURES RELEASED TODAY

 THEATRE TRANSFORMATION UNDERWAY IN ORDER TO ACCOMMODATE MIRIAM BUETHER’S UNIQUE SET DESIGN FROM THE YOUNG VIC

 NEW FOR PLAYHOUSE AUDIENCES, THE DRESS CIRCLE WILL BE TRANSFORMED INTO ‘CLIFFS OF DOVER’, WITH UNIQUE AND INTIMATE VIEWS OVER BELOW ENHANCED BY SCREENS RELAYING CLOSE-UP ‘LIVE NEWS BROADCAST’ STYLE FOOTAGE OF THE ACTION AS IT HAPPENS  THE JUNGLE WILL PREVIEW FROM 16 JUNE AT THE IN ’S WEST END Following critical acclaim, and a sold-out run at the Young Vic, producers Sonia Friedman Productions, Tom Kirdahy and Hunter Arnold are delighted to announce the full cast for the West End transfer of Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson’s The Jungle, a National Theatre and Young Vic co-production with Good Chance Theatre, directed by Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin. The production is set in Europe’s largest unofficial refugee camp, the Calais Jungle, which in 2015, became a temporary home for more than 10,000 people. Previewing from 16 June, with World Refugee Day on 20 June, The Jungle will have an Opening Night on 5 July at the Playhouse Theatre, with rehearsal photography released today. Cast transferring from the Young Vic include Mohammad Amiri, Elham Ehsas, Trevor Fox, Moein Ghobsheh, Ammar Haj Ahmad, Alex Lawther, Jo McInnes, John Pfumojena, Rachel Redford, Rachid Sabitri, Mohamed Sarrar, Ben Turner and Nahel Tzegai. New cast members include Tiran Aakel, Gerard Carey, Alexander Devrient, Cherno Jagne, Kiki Kendrick, Freddie Meredith, Sara Mokonen, Yasin Moradi, Jonathan Nyati, Dominic Rowan and Eric Sirakian. The company is made up of actors from around the world, cast are from Iran, Sudan, Afghanistan, Eritrea, England, Zimbabwe, Syria, America, Congo, Wales, Scotland, The Gambia, Morocco, Lebanon and Germany. The Jungle will transfer to the Playhouse Theatre, where the traditional proscenium theatre is undergoing an unprecedented transformation, unlike anything seen in a West End venue before. The stalls have been completely reconfigured to house Miriam Buether’s critically-acclaimed set design as seen at the Young Vic, where audiences were invited to sit at the benches and tables of the Afghan café in the Calais camp. The Playhouse Theatre will also offer the brand new experience of watching from the Dress Circle, which has been renamed “Cliffs of Dover”. Whilst the circle will retain its traditional theatre seating, the unique and intimate experience will be completely unlike anything regular Playhouse Theatre attenders have had before, with views over the dramatically transformed performance space below, which extends beyond the proscenium arch and over the stalls, enhanced by accompanying video screens, relaying close-up ‘live news broadcast’ style footage of some of the action. The in-the-round transformation reduces the capacity of the theatre to under 450 seats. Top price tickets are directly enabling 40% of the house to be priced at £25 and under, and a proportion of tickets will be held off sale to be offered to refugees and targeted groups in order to maximise diversity and accessibility. This is where people suffered and dreamed. Meet the hopeful, resilient residents of the Jungle – just across the Channel, right on our doorstep. The Jungle tells stories of loss, fear, community and hope, of the Calais camp’s creation - and of its eventual destruction. Join the residents over freshly baked naan and sweet milky chai at the Afghan Café, and experience the intense, moving and uplifting encounters between refugees from many different countries and the volunteers who arrived from the UK. Official charity partner, Help Refugees, which was established alongside the Good Chance Theatre in the Calais Jungle in 2015, and is now the leading UK NGO in a new movement of International humanitarian aid, will be supported by the production, with fundraising efforts taking place at the venue throughout the entire run. Tiran Aakel is from Britain, his family are Israeli. His theatre credits include Burkas And Bacon Butties (Tara Finney Prods/Vault Festival); Time's Up (Yvonne Arnaud Theatre); I Was Looking At The Ceiling ( Playhouse); Beyond Therapy (); Purge, Asturias, Sab! (all Edinburgh Fringe Festival) Ooh Ah Showab Khan, Kicking Out (both Arc Theatre); Baby Love (Sylvester Tobias Theatre Co). Television includes: Eastenders, Casualty, Panorama, Bed Bugs. Radio includes: Sherlock Holmes - His Last Bow. Film includes: Pretty Music For Very Ugly People; Regret Button; I'm No Stranger. Mohammad Amiri is from Afghanistan. His theatre credits include Boy (Almeida). His television work includes Unforgotten 2. His film credits include: Fighting With My Family; City of Tiny Lights.

Gerard Carey is from Britain. His theatre credits includes: A Christmas Carol (RSC); Half A Sixpence (Chichester/Noel Coward Theatre); Shrek the Musical (UK tour); Dickens Abridged (); Soho Cinders, Ex (); Master Class (Vaudeville); Invisible Man (); Noises Off, Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz (Birmingham Rep); Spamalot (Palace); A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Taming of the Shrew, High Society, Leonardo’s Last Supper, The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Regent’s Park Open Air); Mary Poppins (Cameron Mackintosh/Disney). His television credits include: Love Soup; Torchwood. Alexander Devrient is from Germany and Lebanon. Theatre includes: Die Entuhrung aus dem Serail (Glyndebourne); L’Avare (European Tour) Twelfth Night (); Silent Chalk (Old Theatre Royal Bath); The Tragedy of Soliman & Perseda (Rose Theatre ). Film includes: The Danish Girl, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. Television includes: Genius: Picasso, SS-GB, Das Institut, Emmerdale, Le Bureau des Legendes and Alarm fur Cobra 11.

Elham Ehsas is from Afghanistan. Film work includes: Our Kind of Love; The Kill Team; Oksijan; War Machine; Harry Potter the Deathly Hallows; The Kite Runner. His television credits include: The Informer; Brussel; Silent Witness.

Trevor Fox is from Britain. Theatre credits include: Macbeth, Common (National Theatre); People, Places & Things (Headlong/National Theatre tour); Amedee (Birmingham Rep); , Cymbeline, The Oresteia, Measure for Measure, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Gabriel, Coriolanus, Under The Black Flag (Shakespeare’s Globe); King Lear, Children’s Children (); The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time (Apollo). His film credits include: Bridget Jones – The Edge of Reason; Gabriel & Me; Billy Elliot.

Moein Ghobsheh is a musician from Iran. His theatre credits include: The Jungle (Young Vic). Ammar Haj Ahmad is from Syria. Theatre credits include: Returning to Haifa (Finborough); LOVE (National Theatre/ Birmingham Repertory); Goats/Told From the Inside (Royal Court); Kan Yama (Cockpit Theatre). His film credits include: London Tomorrow; ALEGNA; Wall; Round Trip; Wada'an; Monologue. His television work includes: Agatha Raisin; Letters from Baghdad.

Cherno Jagne is from The Gambia. Theatre credits include: Closer, 2 Families 14 Lives (The Courtyard Theatre). His film credits include: Haraam. Kiki Kendrick is from Britain. Theatre credits include: The Ruffian On The Stair (Blue Devil/Brighton Festival); Cutting Corners (Juno Theatre); oysters (Eastern Angles); The Woman Who Cooked Her Husband (Th. Royal ); I Want That Hair (Hull Truck); Babushka (Liberated Theatre); Fly Me To The Moon (Hull Truck/Stephen Joseph Theatre); Raindrops & Roses (Soho Theatre); Reunion (Hull Truck/UK tour); Insane Jane (Pleasance Edinburgh/Soho Theatre); Too Close For Comfort (Soho Theatre); Down Dog (Edinburgh Underbelly); My Beautiful Launderette (Snap Theatre); Lip Service (Soho/Finborough Theatres); Crime And Punishment (); Blind Date (Pleasance Theatre Edinburgh); Waiting For Hillsborough (Gutted Theatre Company). Television includes: The Office, Cold Feet, Holby City, Waterloo Road, Doctors, The Bearded Ladies, Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet Of Crisps, Funland, Fat Friends. Film includes: Gridiron; Webcast; Frontman; Grave Tales; Do I Love You?; Reverb; Firefall; Diagnosis; Nine Lives Of Tomas Katz Alex Lawther is from Britain. Theatre credits include: Crushed Shells and Mud (); The Glass Supper, Fault Lines (); South Downs (Harold Pinter/Chichester Festival Theatre). His film credits include: The Translators; Ghost Stories; Goodbye Christopher Robin; Old Boys; Freakshow; Departure; ; X+Y. His television work has included: The End of the Fucking World; Howards End; .

Jo McInnes is from Britain. Theatre credits include: Wastewater, Fleshwound, Bluebird (Royal Court); The House of Bernarda Alba, The Children’s Hour (National Theatre); M.A.D (); On Blindness, Dirty Butterfly (Soho Theatre). Her film credits include: Me and Orson Welles; The New Romantics; My Wife Is An Actress; Birthday Girl. Her television work has included: Eternal Law; Fine Daughters; Recovery; Afterlife; Spooks; Living It; Playing the Field. Freddie Meredith’s theatre credits include Fracked! (Chichester Festival Theatre). His television credits include: The Crown, To Walk Invisible. Sara Mokonen is from Eritrea. Theatre credits include My Music, My Story, My Monologue, Love Me To Death, Double Trouble (Intermission Youth Theatre); Who's Culture (Royal Shakespeare Theatre); Oneness (Blue Elephant Theatre); Sonnet Walks (Globe Theatre). Yasin Moradi is a Kung Fu Master from Iran. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management and was a lecturer in sport at universities in Iran. He has been in the UK for 2 and a half years. His Kung Fu work includes: National Iranian Kung Fu Team and regular performances at the National Kung Fu Festival of Iran and the Tehran Kung Fu Show. Teacher of Kung Fu at Good Chance, Calais, and Encampment, Centre. His theatre work includes: Encampment (Southbank Centre), Hope Shows (Good Chance Calais). Belarus Free Theatre (Leicester), Migration Festival (Leicester). As part of the theatre ensemble Psyche Delight Yasin has toured internationally performing the show Borderline at the 10th International Theatre Festival of Kerala in India, Denmark Theatre Festival and the Pleasance Theatre, London. Jonathan Nyati is Congolese. Theatre credits include: Hotel (National Theatre); Promise (Belgrade Theatre); Love is Not Enough, Will Today Ever End (Tricycle Theatre). His television work includes: Bodyguard, Doctors.

John Pfumojena is from Zimbabwe. Theatre credits include: No One Is An Island (Tangle International); Twelfth Night (Shakespeare's Globe); Bent, Peter Pan (National Theatre); I Am Thomas (National Theatre of Scotland); Beasty Baby (Polka Theatre); Now You See Me (Immediate Theatre); Dream (Ignite Africa Festival); Riots (Chickenshed Theatre); Water, Bread and Salt, Dream Nation, Workshop Negative (Tangle International).

Rachel Redford is from Wales. Theatre credits include: The Crucible (Manchester Royal Exchange); Luna Gale (Hampstead Theatre); Closer (); A Ghost From A Perfect Place (Arcola); Adler & Gibb (Royal Court); Not The Worst Place (Sherman Theatre/Theatr Clwyd); Parallel Lines (Chapter Arts Centre); A Family Affair (Sherman Theatre); The Acid Test, Blue Stockings, King Lear (RADA). Her film credits include: Testament Of Youth, The Riot Club and Nights.

Dominic Rowan is from Britain. Theatre credits include: A Woman Of No Importance, Stepping Out (); Winter Solstice (); Giving (Hampstead Theatre); The Tempest, Measure For Measure, Henry VIII, A New World, (The Globe); The Cherry Orchard (Young Vic); Medea, Happy Now?, Dream Play, Iphigenia At Aulis, Mourning Becomes Electra, , The Talking Cure, Private Lives (National Theatre); A Doll’s House (Young Vic/Duke of York’s Theatre/BAM New York); The Village Bike, Way To Heaven, Forty Winks (Royal Court). Rachid Sabitri is from Morocco. Theatre credits include: Aladdin (Prince Edward); I Call My Brothers (Arcola/Off Broadway); Twelfth Night (Westport Country Playhouse/Northampton Theatre Royal); Rafta Rafta (National Theatre); Bloodtide (Pilot Theatre Company); Beyond Midnight (Trestle Theatre). His television work includes: Homeland, Criminal Minds, Madam Secretary, The Odds, Generation Kill, Dr Who, Blue Murder.

Mohamed Sarrar is a musician from Sudan. He has been in the UK for two years. His theatre includes: The Jungle (Young Vic), The Welcoming Party (Theatre Rights International Festival, Manchester), Encampment (Southbank Centre), Hope Shows (Good Chance Calais). As part of the theatre ensemble Psyche Delight, Mohamed has toured internationally performing the show Borderline at The Cockpit, Brighton Fringe Festival, the Migration Museum in London, Migrants Matter in Sheffield, Platforma Arts in Newcastle and Stockton, Freedom of Movement Festival in Berlin, Action Moon Star in Black Forest Germany and Bridewell Theatre in London, The 10th International Theatre Festival of Kerala in India, Denmark Theatre Festival and Pleasance Theatre, London. Eric Sirakian is American, he has family from Palestine. He trained at RADA. Eric is making his profession debut in The Jungle. Ben Turner is British Iranian. Theatre credits include: Soldier’s Fortune (Young Vic); The Kite Runner, As You Like It (Wyndham’s/UK tour); The Iliad (Royal Lyceum); Maiden Voices From The Uprising (Royal Court); Richard II, Caligula (Donmar Warehouse); Awake And Sing (Almeida); Measure For Measure/Habeus Corpus (UK Tour); (RSC world tour). His film work includes: Six Days, 300: Rise Of An Empire, The Fifth Estate, Adulthood, Syriana. His television work has included: The Coroner, WPC 56, Death In Paradise, Casualty, The Bill, Dr Who, Love Soup.

Nahel Tzegai is from Eritrea. Theatre credits include: How It Ended (Bush Theatre); Ring (BAC); The Ship's Name (Royal Court); You Are Currently The Highest Bidder, Block 9, Virtually Real (Roundhouse).

Sonia Friedman Productions and Tom Kirdahy, Hunter Arnold present A National Theatre and Young Vic Co-Production with Good Chance Theatre. -ENDS-

For further information please contact Maisie Lawrence / Ben Chamberlain The Corner Shop PR on 020 7831 7657

LISTINGS

Sonia Friedman Productions and Tom Kirdahy, Hunter Arnold in association with Elizabeth Dewberry & Ali Ahmet Kocabiyik, Paula Marie Black, Michael Desantis, Tulchin Bartner Productions, 1001 Nights Productions, Rupert Gavin, Brenda Leff, Stephanie P. Mcclelland, Richard Winkler, Jane Cee & Glenn Redbord present

A National Theatre and Young Vic co-production with Good Chance Theatre

THE JUNGLE by Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson Directed by Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin Design by Miriam Buether Costumes by Catherine Kodicek Lighting by Jon Clark Sound by Paul Arditti Musical Direction / Composition by John Pfumojena Video by Duncan McLean and Tristan Shepard Casting Julia Horan CDG Executive Producer David Lan

The Playhouse Theatre Northumberland Ave, London WC2N 5DE

First performance: Saturday 16 June Final performance: Saturday 3 November Opening Night: Thursday 5 July

Monday to Saturday evenings, 7.30pm Thursday & Saturday matinees, 2.30pm

Box office: 0844 871 7631 Calls cost 7p per minute, plus your phone company's access charge Groups Bookings: 020 7206 1174 Access Bookings: 0800 912 6971 www.thejungleplay.co.uk

Prices from £15

Twitter: @TheJungleLDN Facebook: @TheJungleLDN Instagram: @TheJungleLDN #TheJungleWestEnd

NOTES TO EDITORS

Joe Robertson and Joe Murphy are the joint-artistic directors of the Evening Standard Editor’s Award-winning Good Chance Theatre which was originally based in the Jungle in Calais and then in the north of next to the refugee welcome centre in spring 2017 and spring 2018.

Through theatre and art, Good Chance creates new kinds of communities, empowering artists from across the world and connecting people, stories and cultures. Founded by British playwrights Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson, Good Chance established its first temporary theatre of hope, an 11m geodesic dome, in the heart of the refugee and migrant camp in Calais in September 2015, promoting freedom of expression, creativity and dignity for everyone. It has since travelled to London’s Southbank for a nine-day festival led by refugees in July 2016, and opened its doors to refugees, artists and local Parisians in the French capital for eight weeks in spring 2017 in partnership with Collectif MU and Theatre de la Ville and for ten weeks in spring 2018 in collaboration with humanitarian NGO Emmaüs Solidarité. At the invitation of the Mayor of Paris, the Good Chance dome will return to the French capital in summer and autumn 2018. Alongside the dome theatres, the company creates groundbreaking Good Chance Productions and works with a collective of artists from across the world through the Good Chance Ensemble, most recently supporting the creation of the album ‘Sounds of Refuge’ by John Falsetto and Mohamed Sarrar, recorded at Abbey Road Studios.

Good Chance is an Associate Company of the Young Vic Theatre and recipient of the Evening Standard Editor’s Award (2016), an Empty Space Award (2017) and the Genesis Award (2018).

Good Chance is supported by the Pureland Foundation and the KT Wong Foundation.

Good Chance Trustees: Stephen Daldry (Chair), Sonia Friedman, David Lan, Natalia Kaliada. goodchance.org.uk

Stephen Daldry started his career at the Sheffield Crucible Theatre and directed extensively in Britain’s regional theatres. In London he was Artistic Director of the and the where he headed the £26million redevelopment. He has also directed at the National Theatre, the Public Theatre in New York and transferred many productions both to Broadway and the West End. His award-winning 1992 National Theatre production of An Inspector Calls recently completed a 16 week run in the West End following a successful UK tour. Billy Elliot the Musical opened at the in 2005 where it ran for 11 years. It has also played on Broadway, in Holland, Seoul, Sydney, Melbourne, Chicago, Toronto and across the US with two further productions opening in Japan and Korea in 2017. In 2009, the production won ten Tony awards including Best Musical, more than any other British show in Broadway history. Its first UK and Ireland Tour will finish its highly successful 18 month run in Hamburg. Stephen’s first four films Billy Elliot, The Hours, The Reader and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close together received 19 Academy Award® nominations and two wins. His film, Trash, set in the favellas of Rio de Janeiro, was nominated for Best Film Not In The at the 2015 BAFTAs. He also directed The Audience and Skylight to critical acclaim both in London and on Broadway with Skylight winning a Tony award for Best Revival. Stephen has previously directed for BBC Radio and Television. He is Executive Producer and Director on the highly acclaimed series The Crown by Peter Morgan, which won Best Drama Series at the Golden Globes. Stephen was Creative Executive Producer of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Justin Martin previously directed Last Chance with Good Chance Theatre at the Young Vic in 2016. Theatre includes: Low Level Panic (Old Fitz Theatre, Sydney; Galway Theatre Festival and Irish National Tour), Street (Mick Laly Theatre), The Black Balloon (in development), Harvey and Frieda (), Far Away and Skintight (fortyfivedownstairs, Melbourne), The Kitchen (HMS Theatre, Vic), Echarcissus (Natya Mandala Theatre) and Billie (The Studio, Sydney Opera House and La Mama). As Associate Director: Inheritance (Young Vic/Scott Rudin - workshop), Skylight (West End, Broadway), The Audience (West End, Broadway), Let The Right One In (National Theatre Of Scotland, The Royal Court, , St Anne's Warehouse), Billy Elliot (New York, Toronto, Brazil, Chicago, North America Tour, Korea and Australia) and The Give and Take (Sydney Theatre Company, Melbourne Theatre Company). Television credits includes: The Crown (Series 1 and 2)

Miriam Buether’s theatre credits include: The Trial, Measure for Measure, Public Enemy, Wild Swans, The Government Inspector, In the Red and Brown Water, The Good Soul of Szechuan, Generations (all Young Vic); A Doll’s House 2 (Broadway); Escaped Alone (Brooklyn Academy of Music); Sunny Afternoon, Chariots of Fire (Hampstead Theatre and West end); In the Republic of Happiness, Love and Information (also New York), Escaped Alone, Get Santa!, Sucker Punch, Cock, My Child (Royal Court Theatre); Wild (Hampstead Theatre); Bend it Like Beckham (West End); The Father (Theatre Royal Bath); Boy, Game, When the Rain Stops Falling, Judgement Day (Almeida Theatre); The Effect, Earthquakes in London (National Theatre); Decade (Headlong); King Lear (New York); Six Characters in Search of an Author (Chichester Festival Theatre and West End); Everybody Loves a Winner (Manchester International Festival); The Wonderful World of Dissocia (Edinburgh International Festival and Royal Court); Red Demon, The Bee (Young Vic and Japan); Trade (RSC and Soho Theatre); Guantanamo: “Honor Bound to Defend Freedom” (Tricycle Theatre, West End, New York, and San Francisco), Tenterhooks ( National Ballet of Canada); Awakenings (Ballet Rambert), Frame of View (Cedar Lake, New York). Opera credits include La Fanciulla Del West (English National Opera and Santa Fe Opera); Turandot, Wozzeck (English National Opera); Suor Angelica (); Anna Nicole (Royal Opera House and Brooklyn Academy of Music); Carmen (Salzburg Festival); The Death of Klinghoffer (Edinburgh Festival and Scottish Opera). National Theatre At the National Theatre, we make world-class theatre that is entertaining, challenging and inspiring, and we make it for everyone. In 2016-2017, the NT staged 26 productions and gave 2,585 performances at our home on the South Bank. The NT’s award-winning programme had a UK paying audience of 1.8 million, 400,000 of which were NT Live audiences.

The work the National Theatre produces appeals to the widest possible audiences with new plays, musicals, re-imagined classics and new work for young audiences. The NT’s work is seen in the West End, on tour throughout the UK and internationally, and in collaborations and co-productions with partners across the country. Through NT Live, we broadcast some of the best of British theatre to over 2,000 venues in 60 countries around the world.

Our extensive Learning programme offers talks, events and workshops for people of all ages, and reaches nationwide through programmes such as Connections, our annual festival of new plays for schools and youth theatres. In 2016-2017 there were 196,826 participations through the NT Learning events programme. Over 3,000 schools have signed up to the free streaming service, On Demand In Schools, since its launch in September 2015.

The Young Vic, one of the UK’s leading theatres, produces new plays, classics, forgotten works, musicals and opera. It co-produces and tours widely in the UK and internationally while keeping deep roots in its neighbourhood. It frequently transfers shows to London’s West End and invites local people to take part at its home in Waterloo. In 2016 the Young Vic became London’s first Theatre of Sanctuary. Recent productions include Tarell Alvin McCraney’s The Brothers Size, Simon Stone’s new version of Lorca’s Yerma which opens at The Park Avenue Armory in in March with Billie Piper reprising her multi award-wining performance, and Ivo Van Hove’s production of Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge (West End, Broadway, Paris), as well as Horizons, a season exploring the lives of refugees. www.youngvic.org

Help Refugees is the leading UK NGO in a new movement of humanitarian aid. Set up by a group of friends, in just two and a half years they have grown from a social media campaign into a charity that’s helped over 722,500 people. Responding rapidly and flexibly to the genuine needs of refugees, they now support over 80 different projects across Europe and the Middle East. They fund emergency medical care, women and children’s services, Search and Rescue, informal education and food. Acting where governmental and other non-governmental bodies are unable to, they are working to fill the huge and terrifying gaps in services for those displaced by war and persecution in Europe and beyond. With no bureaucracy and minimal overheads, every pound they raise can be traced to its tangible impact on the ground.