The Jungle, a show we as a class had the pleasure of watching on Wednesday night at the St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn, tells the story of a refugee camp in Calais, France that housed of thousands of people fleeing from countries in Africa and the Middle East as they waited for their “good chance” shot to flee to Britain for asylum. As we explore the lives of the characters and learn more about where they come from and how they ended up at The Jungle, the audience is able to sympathize with the people living there, and simultaneously educate themselves on the current refugee crisis.
The most striking part of the show was by far the monologue that the boy from Sudan had during his conversation with Beth. Beth, a white woman from Britain, continuously tells this young man that she understands him and where he’s coming from. Frustrated, he takes his shirt off and the audience sees a number of thick lash marks across his chocolate skin. Then, he begins telling her his story in detail. One day when he was fleeing Sudan on a bus with his mother, the bus was stopped by government officers telling them all to evacuate the bus. Thereafter, all the men and women were separated and were ordered to line up. The officers had guns held to the men’s heads while they watched all the women they cared about be burned alive. Before this happened, in case something of this nature ever did happen, his mother gave him $40 to retreat on a boat with his “uncle” to go to a safer place. Since he was considered to be poor, he and his uncle were placed underneath the deck with many other people. Packed tight like sardines, it was difficult to move. Since the boat was so packed, when water started to flood in from holes in the walls, they all began to drown and had to fight for their lives, once again. The entire time he was telling this story to Beth, members of the cast joined him in a line looking directly at her, as if this was their story too. The part that broke my heart was when some cast members were actually weeping as if they were the refugees themselves.
Beth represented many of the audience members in the crowd. White women who were privileged and had no idea what it was like to be discriminated against or displaced from your home/country of origin. In fact, the “Beth’s” of the crowd were the main ones crying throughout the show. For some reason this angered me. Considering the stereotypical profile of the people who come to see shows like this, I would assume that most of them were Republicans and voted for a president who is reinforcing many of the same polices that go against human rights right here in America, i.e. Immigrant internment camps and the building of this border wall.
“Everybody is running away from something. We’re all refugees. The name of the game is, “What are you running from?”” This quote from the show is what stuck with me the most. Oftentimes, we as a society tend to look the other way when we see detrimental and catastrophic things happening to other people in the world, and yet, many of these things are happening right here on American soil. Yes these events happened in Europe but it is still our problem and still something we should be concerned with. I was very disgusted to learn that the demolition of this camp by the French government happened less than three years ago and I have never heard of it. When the bombings happened in Paris in 2015, I was aware but I was surprised to learn that The Jungle was directly affected, but not in the way you would think. In one of the bombing sites, a fake Syrian passport was planted and recovered. The same day of the attacks, there was an accidental fire at the camps, and subsequently, the French government tried to link this to the bombings at the camps. The government claims that the refugees disguised themselves and came to Paris as terrorists, but this wasn’t the case. As a result, they decided to demolish the camps, and bring an end to The Jungle.
The Jungle was a performance unlike anything I had ever seen or experienced before. The acting was impeccable, the stage and setting made me feel like I was in the main restaurant of The Jungle, and the story was authentic and true to life. Even though Wednesday was a very long day for me, packed with a presentation, a final, and an exam, I am now very glad I went. This was my favorite outing of the semester.
Dear Teona,
Your blog post was wonderful, I felt and thought the same things throughout the play. The scene with Beth and the boy from Sudan was a really powerful moment; scenes like this makes me really think about privilege and how privileged people go to places where human rights are being violated in the most horrific ways and then act like they know everything. The white people in the play at first frustrated me, but by the end, I gained respect for some of them. I think some of them outstepped their boundaries and tried to change things without the permission of the people of the Jungle. Overall, this is a great blog post, good job!
Hey Teona,
I really enjoyed the rawness of your blogpost as you discussed the connection between the production and the audience, as well as politics today. Your analysis of Beth and her connection to many of the people in the audience really struck me, because I had noticed the very same thing. Our class gave the audience diversity, and it was definitely something to take note of. Your comment on how The Jungle was torn down less than three years ago, yet we had not learned anything of it, reminds me of my last blogpost and how Martha Rosler had a similar message on this very topic. We must make note of how the media controls the way we perceive world events; if they are portrayed to us at all. I truly enjoyed reading your blogpost!
Hi Teona,
Your post was very raw and moving in all the ways that it should have been. In a way, through your words, you are bringing responsibility to the people that are responsible. I liked your connection between members of the audience and Beth, and how you made the connection that both should check their privileges and responsibility for events like this. I like your point about the tearing down of The Jungle but how yet it is still absent from our knowledge. I as well, like what you said about the media and its ability to take things out of our lives and mind.
I agreed with your points and thought about the things you wrote the same way you did, great job!
Teona,
Your post about The Jungle is insightful on the inequalities that we face because of our race, rather than the status of our citizenship. I found it interesting that you spoke about Beth and Okut (the young Sudanese) in the play. For myself, throughout the play, I viewed the relationship between the two as a support system. For Beth, Okut was the reason she kept pushing and helping the refugees. As made clear in the performance both Beth and her volunteer friend were nudged to go home and there were times that they considered it, but in those times Okut and Beth would have a conference and Beth was one again revitalized on the reason she was in Calais. For Okut, Beth was the reason he didn’t sign his asylum to France. Beth believed in Okut’s good chance more than anyone else, she even specifically facilitated his. Something about the opposite polarity in their situation makes it more intriguing of a story to follow.
You say “…“Beth’s” of the crowd were the main ones crying throughout the show”, I found the line quite funny as you cleverly categorized a specific group of the audience. My question for you is: Why, often times, do you think it takes entertainment for us to understand the nature of the world around us? Is it because of the sensitive nature of topics, and our needs to perceive things more lightheartedly. I also enjoy how you included quotes on your explanation of the show, I think including the lines that you did into your post highlights the moments that you found captivating, and for someone who has also seen the show I completely agree, that even those were great scenes in the performance.
Regards,
Rushabh M