A Theater of Hope
When British playwrights Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson arrived as volunteers at the refugee camp in Calais, northern France, in the summer of 2015, it had already become a symbol of Europe’s migrant crisis. Eight to ten thousand people from over 20 countries were staying in “the Jungle” dreaming of reaching the UK – one day, if ever. What they all had in common were lost homes, dangerous journeys, and an uncertain future. But there was something else they shared: hope.
That hope inspired Joe and Joe to create a space where those stranded far from home could come together, reflect on their past, and imagine their future. And so, the first Dome – a performance space and a hallmark of the Good Chance company – was built in the camp.
“In Calais people would always say one phrase: “good chance”. It is that route to the UK. If you get a good chance, you have been able to leave the “Jungle” and have reached safety in the UK. There’s either good chance or no chance. That’s why we wanted that name for the company. It’s that hope that there is a better world that we can create together”, recalls Hannah Harding, the company’s development and communications manager.
The Dome quickly became a true community space, hosting the weekly Hope Show, a variety of readings, dance, music, puppetry, and mask performances, all created and performed by the camp’s residents following workshops hosted through the week. Before long, it began drawing audiences beyond the refugee community. Even after the camp’s eviction and demolition in October 2016, the artistic life sparked by the Domes did not fade. Instead, they popped up in locations across the world where those seeking sanctuary were living alongside local people — across Paris, then London, Coventry, Sheffield, Paris again, and New York. Each new location shaped its own show, featuring refugee performers and local artists who were invited to perform.
“It’s not just about creating together a space for people who have found sanctuary here. It’s also about making sure that space is somewhere local people can meet each other and forge new communities”, Hannah tells me. Between 2015 and 2023, the Domes welcomed more than 35,000 people – artists with experience of displacement, local artists, and audiences – proving that theater is a place of belonging, resilience, and hope.
Domes in Paris. Photo: Yoann Garel
“The Jungle”. Photo: Marc Brenner
From the “Jungle” to the West End
After creating a theater with refugees and asylum seekers, Murphy and Robertson took the next step – creating the show about the camp in Calais and the people who lived there. By the time their play ‘The Jungle’ premiered in London in 2017, the Calais camp had already been cleared by French authorities. The production recreated the lived experiences of both the playwrights and the camp’s residents, offering a deeply human story of the “Jungle” and its inhabitants.
Set in the camp’s Afghan Café – where makeshift tables form a maze of camp’s streets, doubling as walkways for performers – the play brings together actors and audience in a shared space. Among the cast were Yasin Moradi and Milan Tajmiri from Iran and Mohamed Sarrar from Sudan, all of whom joined The Jungle having first met Good Chance in the Calais “Jungle” camp.
“They didn’t have experience of acting before, although they are all artists and performers in their own right – so when they came to the UK, it felt completely essential to get them involved in the show because those are the people who had shaped the experience in the Dome and had been performers before leaving home – whether as musicians or kung fu masters. They’ve since been in all productions of the show, all gained their British citizenship, which is a really special journey to have been a small part of from when they just arrived”, says Hannah Harding.
From its debut at the Young Vic Theater, The Jungle successfully transferred to London’s West End and went on to tour New York (twice), San Francisco, Washington, D.C. between 2017 and 2023. But the journey wasn’t without obstacles. Preparing for the play’s first New York run in 2018, Milan, Yasin, and other cast members faced a déjà vu experience of being unwelcomed – they had to overcome President Trump’s 2017 travel ban, which restricted entry for residents of several countries, including their home country, Iran. After considerable legal, public and political support, they made it to perform at St. Ann’s Warehouse, reminding audiences across the Atlantic of the global “Jungle” we all inhabit today.
Overall, The Jungle has been seen by 90,000 people in the UK and 60,000 in the US. More than £220,000 has been raised for local charities supporting refugees and asylum seekers.
“The theater that was being made in the Dome in Calais was for the residents of the camp, created by them and with them. The theater of the play ‘The Jungle in London, New York and around the world, is for audiences who may not be aware of the experiences of being in the camp, or who might have misconceptions of what that experience would have been and why people are being forced to seek safety. This theater is about opening up that story to them in a different way by showing our shared humanity, rather than the assumptions and prejudice portrayed in mainstream media and politics”, says Hannah.
Paris Takes on Migration
In 2024, the “Jungle” made headlines in France once again. This time, it was Alexis Michalik’s latest play, which has been on at Theatre de La Renaissance in Paris since January 2024, that reignited public discussion on migration. A star of commercial theater and a laureate of several Molière awards – the highest honor in French theater, Michalik turned his attention to the political battles surrounding immigration in France.
The play, which Michalik also directs, is set in the Calais camp, where we meet Issa, an Eritrean refugee who has lost his memory. With his passport as the only trace of his past, he is forced to navigate a world that no longer feels like his own.
“I like theater as a popular medium and I usually tell stories that are very mainstream. This one was a bit different because it was going more towards a political point of view, which I could not escape talking about”, Alexis says in an interview with Envoy. “I wanted to put my audience in the shoes of the refugees and have them experience what refugees would experience – through out the theater of course. I realized that not many people, even in France, even people who are well-attended, know exactly what they go through once they’re in France, once they get into Europe. The whole process of just having the right to stay there is crazy, long and sinuous”.
Despite the weight of its subject, the play is neither heavy nor didactic. In Michalik’s hands, Issa’s journey is filled with both dramatic and happy moments, making the story feel alive rather than tragic. As a master of comedy, Michalik engages the audience through laughter rather than moralizing, offering a positive and humanizing perspective on immigration, and leaves audiences moved.
“I think that the moment you start feeling empathy for someone, you start wondering: What does that person feel? What are that person’s struggles? That’s the moment you start changing your mind about an issue,” Alexis shares.
For the playwright the reality is clear: migration is a permanent part of human history, and it’s time to accept that “the world is going to keep evolving, and refugees and immigrants will keep coming in for the next hundreds of years”. Whether the audience agrees is another question—but they are undeniably engaged. After selling 350 shows, the production has been renewed for another year. “I think that you can’t just change your mind after seeing a play, but I certainly think that for some people, the seeds are in”, Michalik tells me.
A Stage in Exile
While Yasin, Moein, Mohamed, and Girurn were preparing for their London stage debut, Syrian artist and theater maker Ayham Majid Agha was developing a unique project of theatrical and social integration in Germany. Of the 1.4 million refugees that Germany hosted at the time, more than half a million were from Syria.
The new project, Exile Ensemble, brought together a group of professional actors who had become refugees and, in turn, New Berliners. They found a new artistic home at Maxim Gorki Theater, which was eager to engage displaced artists and open the doors of the German stage to them.
Launched in 2017, Exile Ensemble united actors who had fled Afghanistan, Syria, and Palestine, offering them a platform to reclaim their craft. Their first production, Winterreise, was the outcome of a bus journey across Germany, where seven artists sought to understand their new home. Over time, they staged five productions, exploring different themes.
“After the two-year project period, which was designed to facilitate the artists’ ‘arrival,’ the goal was to integrate the Exile Ensemble into the theater’s permanent ensemble or to support and empower its members in achieving their individual goals”, Gorki Theater team shared with me. Four actors of the “Exile” became part of the Gorki Ensemble, while others proceeded to other theaters and art forms.
According to the UNHCR Global Appeal 2025, Europe is home to 13.2 million refugees, with Germany hosting the largest refugee and asylum-seeker population—over three million people.
Welcome Award
With the migrant crisis in Europe far from over, theater companies working with refugees are expanding their focus beyond social integration to professional development, offering training and workshops that help refugees build careers in the arts.
Sheffield-based Stand and Be Counted Theater (SBC) believes in theater’s power to change—if not the world just yet, then at least local communities. Now celebrating its 15th anniversary, the company has run numerous artistic programs, educational workshops, and theater productions for people with refugee and migrant backgrounds. Some training sessions are regularly attended by a hundred participants, while performance projects have engaged as many as 800 people.
“We hope that we’re creating not necessarily the artists of now and tomorrow, but certainly future leaders. At any of our sessions you could just tell that some person is on the track to become really influential in their community, but also as an artist and beyond”, says John Tomlinson, SBC’s executive director.
One of their most remarkable projects was The Glow Bus. An iconic American yellow school bus was transformed into a mobile exhibition of films, photography, and digital work created by SBC participants. As it traveled through the city of Oldham, each stop became a pop-up digital art scene, showcasing the creative voices of refugees and migrants.
“We celebrate people and try to pull stories from a place of truth. We are giving people opportunities to share their own stories – from the perspective of those seeking sanctuary”, comments Nadia Emam, SBC’s associate director.
In 2016, Stand and Be Counted became the UK’s first Theater Company of Sanctuary, a title awarded as part of the City of Sanctuary movement. Launched in 2005, this UK-wide initiative encourages organizations and cities to foster a culture of welcome for those forced to seek a new home. Institutions that commit to these values are recognized with the Sanctuary Award. Currently, 27 theaters and theater companies hold this distinction—more than any other art organization.
“We encourage every organization that we come across, to become an organization of sanctuary: a café of sanctuary, leisure center… Everywhere we go we’re making the case for that organization to commit to supporting people seeking sanctuary, ensuring they are welcomed, encouraged, and given opportunities to be part of the community. Certainly, that network has grown exponentially over the last few years, which is incredible”, John shares.
London’s Babylon
Ali Ghaderi was 18 when he arrived in the UK from Iran as an unaccompanied minor. Today, he leads the Babylon Migrant Project, a company dedicated to empowering young people with migrant backgrounds through creative expression. But Ali resists being labeled a refugee. “I am more than that. I’m a human and I have a lot to give”, he tells me. Having experienced himself what it means to receive support and understanding, he now strives to offer the same to others.
Through workshops in theater, storytelling, filmmaking, and photography, Babylon Project facilitators, who come from refugee backgrounds, have engaged over 550 participants in London and Stoke-on-Trent. But for Ali, it’s about more than just artistic expression—it’s about changing perceptions. “It was very important to create a community of people who are coming from the same refugees and migrants background as those who they are supporting, to prove that we are not only takers, but we actually give back. We are not people who come with no experience, no talents, waiting for some organizations to provide support”, Ali shares.
The Power of the Story
Back in Paris, where Passport has already been seen by over 100,000 people, private theater — traditionally associated with commercial success and bourgeois audiences—is opening its doors to politically charged and divisive narratives.
“Something has been going on for a few years in French theater that has put the story at the front. And there is more and more room for writers and playwrights. I can name The Persian Dolls, and 4211 Kilometres – both about Iran and the Iranian revolution. These plays are pretty political, but they are beautiful stories that became successful shows in Paris”, reflects Alexis Michalik.
The Persian dolls by Aïda Asgharzadeh, and 4211 Kilometres by Aïla Navidi, both received the Molière awards in 2023 and 2024 respectively. The plays bring to life the stories of families who fled the Iranian Revolution. Through their works French-Iranian playwrights bridge the past and present, painting a portrait of exile, where the political becomes deeply personal.
Of course, success – especially in commercial theater is never guaranteed—unless the play is strong enough. “There is a hunger for stories on the French private scene. With Passport, I thought that the subject could scare the audience, but I’m very happy and proud of its success – seeing people coming and talking about the play”, shares the playwright. For him, this shift is about more than just success—it’s about opening stage doors for new voices.”What I’m fighting for is to inspire writers and directors from every origin, to tell them that theater is a space where they can actually tell stories that they would envision for movies or TV shows, but they can do it in theater”, Alexis concludes.
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