Theatre, Migration and Activism: the work of Good Chance Theatre

This chapter responds to the tendency of European governments and the media to dehumanize people on the move and those looking for refuge, often leaving them to perish in the sea or to lead abject lives in informal settlements and camps. The writers will examine the work of Good Chance Theatre which emerged from arts activities in ‘the Jungle’, an unofficial migrant camp outside Calais in northern France in the early 2000s. They will examine the forms that Good Chance Theatre have developed, setting their less well-known participatory arts work in Britain and France alongside more public-facing works like The Jungle and The Walk. Ideas about structure—material, artistic and political—inform the chapter asking what can be learned about theatre, migration and activism through considering the work of Good Chance Theatre.