OUR STORY
“I love that Good Chance started small - in a tent in Calais - and now, thanks to the work of incredible minds and collaborative storytelling, has become a butterfly that dances here, there and everywhere. I love that it still thinks of the small alongside the big, determined to embrace refugee storytellers and stories wherever they are found.”
- Jack Thorne, playwright and screenwriter, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
Where it all began…
In the summer of 2015, two British playwrights visited the Calais ‘Jungle’ refugee camp. There they found a spontaneous international community on our doorstep, thousands of people from over 25 countries living side-by-side, struggling for survival, waiting for their “good chance” to reach the UK.
When the Joes realised something was missing - a space of welcome and expression for people of all nationalities to come together to share stories, music and art - a different kind of Good Chance was born.
Along with hundreds of camp residents they built our first dome theatre, which hosted a daily artistic programme of workshops and performances and welcomed artists from all around the world to collaborate and create together. It was a harbour for residents to share their unique artistic and cultural traditions, ’a safe space for dangerous conversations’, somewhere to confront or escape a difficult situation, and became a groundbreaking centre of welcome and creative expression.
Our Mission
"Art should never be an auxiliary to the movement, but at the heart - at the very heart - of our struggles." - Dr Angela Davis
We use the power of theatre to change lives and change minds. With displaced artists centre stage, we bring people together through theatre and art to create surprising stories that spark new conversations and encourage action on complex urgent issues of our time; migration, climate crisis and polarisation.
What We Do
We're theatre makers who create powerful and provoking work, connect communities through art, through surprise, through spectacle, and develop artists who have been displaced.
In 2024 we presented our second major theatrical production, Kyoto, a climate crisis play about the power of agreement during times of conflict and polarisation, that - much like The Jungle - explores the question: How can we live together now?
In a world of entrenching polarisation, we create art that shatters stereotypes and inspires connection.
Our Why
As the world struggles to respond to international politics, the movement of people and the climate crisis, and grapples with polarisation and new technologies which promise to connect us, people feel increasingly atomised and bordered in their countries, towns and societies.
There is an innate need for safe spaces where people can come together, breathe the same air, and play out new ways of understanding each other. Places of discussion, disagreement and expression, where all our different voices are welcomed and counted. Through theatre and the arts, we create these spaces and the opportunities for communities to thrive, artists to evolve and audiences to explore, reflect and take action.
Our Impact
Since 2015, Good Chance have created award-winning productions including The Jungle, The Walk with Little Amal and Fly With Me - bringing people together, developing displaced artists and sharing unheard global stories. And ultimately - most importantly - creating hope.
HEAR FROM THE ARTISTS WE WORK WITH
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Theatre of Sanctuary
We are officially a Theatre of Sanctuary! Find out more about why and what that means to us 🧡
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Rasha Obaid
From artist in Yemen to working backstage in London’s West End through Good Chance’s BackStage Door programme.
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Majid Adin
From the Calais Jungle to working with Elton John and commissions from across the world.
