Today we made our way into the Jungle to visit the Good Chance Theatre. This place is situated in the middle of the refugee camp and was created by two English playwrights: Joe and Joe. They came a couple of moths ago to get an overview and – like many others – stayed. What they did since that day is quite impressive: they quickly started a funding website and built up two tents called „The Dome“ with the help of refugees which you can see in the picture below.
Theatre groups from around the world come to the Dome and support the project with workshops and performances. There was a clown workshop with people from the UK lately and a group of Lebanese comedians will arrive in some time. J&J pointed out how important good communication and networks are to keep on going – inside the Jungle as well as around. To do so, there’s an every week meeting for volunteers in the Dome to discuss latest experiences and challenges. Refugees and volunteers both visit this island in the middle of the Jungle for a bit of distraction and fun. When we were there, we saw powerful movements while the Karate class took place and got caught by moving words in the poem pause.
The Good Chance Theatre is also an exhibition room – it offers an opportunity for the refugees to be creative and exhibit their work afterwards.
As you can see, various opportunities are given by Good Chance Calais to get out of the mind and into the body, making room for new thoughts.
The Good Chance Theatre is a place of solidarity in need of solidarity. For support:
http://goodchance.org.uk
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GoodChanceCalais.2015/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/goodchancecal
