Shakespeare’s Globe is taking its worldwide touring show Hamlet to Jungle refugee camp in Calais, France. The performance on 3 February is part of Good Chance, a temporary programme set up to offer art, theatre and music to camp’s population.
Around 6,000 people currently live at the camp, with residents coming mainly from Middle Eastern and African countries. This production of Hamlet has previously been performed for Syrian refugees at the Zaatari Camp in Jordan, to Yemeni refugees at the Markazi Camp, Djibouti and to Central African Republic refugees in Mandjou, Cameroon.
‘It’s a privilege that our Hamlet company is able to perform in the Calais Jungle and our thanks go to Good Chance for enabling this,’ said outgoing Globe artistic director Dominic Dromgoole.
Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson, joint artistic directors of Good Chance, added that: ‘As a production which has travelled to audiences all over the world, it is fitting that it visits the camp here in Calais, where the fault lines of over 20 different nations meet…the production is a message of solidarity with the people here, and testament to the power of theatre to unite.’
Good Chance’s programme includes writing writing workshops, music lessons, dance, acting and performance. It hosts companies and artists from all over the world who deliver workshops and performances for residents.
Globe to Globe Hamlet is a two-year worldwide tour that will see the production visit every country on the planet. Since it began in April 2014 it has visited 166 countries and travelled over 275,000km. The scheme is supported UNESCO, whose patronage has facilitated its engagement with local communities.
Next stop for Hamlet is a performance for Libyan migrants at the Salesian Theatre in Malta on 8 February. The tour ends on 24 April with a farewell show at Shakespeare’s Globe in London.