Twenty-one UK theatre companies are urging the government to act more quickly on the issue of refugee children with a legal right to enter the UK, and have offered free tickets as a gesture to welcome them.
The theatres include the West Yorkshire Playhouse, the National Theatre, the Royal Exchange Manchester, Bristol Old Vic, Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse, Chichester Festival Theatre, Bristol Old Vic and the Young Vic.
They have written to the immigration minister Robert Goodwill urging him to speed up the process by which young people living in the refugee camp in Calais who are legally entitled to join their families in the UK can do so.
The letter says: “We understand that there are currently 1,022 unaccompanied young children living alone in the ‘Jungle’ refugee and migrant camp in Calais. Around half of these children have the legal right to be reunited with their families in the UK under the terms of the Immigration Act 2016.
“As the authorities prepare for the camp’s demolition in the next three weeks, we urge the British government to honour the legal commitment it has made to protect these children, to speed up the legal process in view of the impending eviction, and to do everything it can to ensure the protection of all unaccompanied children living in Calais before the demolition begins.”
The letter concedes that a trip to the theatre will not be the most urgent priority when the children arrive in the UK. “Nonetheless, we will all be delighted to welcome them and their families into our theatres across the country and to offer them seats to a show free of charge, in the belief that this is one small expression of the desire of millions of UK citizens to do whatever they can to welcome these vulnerable young people in a generous and open-hearted way,” the letter says.
The other theatres taking part are Battersea Arts Centre, Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Bush Theatre, Lyric Hammersmith, Nuffield Southampton, the Old Vic, Playground Entertainment, the Royal Court Theatre, the Royal Opera House, Sadler’s Wells, Soho Theatre, Sonia Friedman Productions, Theatre Royal Stratford East and Unicorn Theatre.
Many theatres work closely with refugee groups. In 2014 the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds became the first “Theatre of Sanctuary”, issuing a public statement enforcing its commitment to being a place of safety, hospitality and support for refugees and asylum seekers.
