Preparations are underway for the West End transfer of the Young Vic's The Jungle directed by Stephen Daldry.

The Playhouse Theatre, where the play opens for preview on June 16, is being transformed in order to accommodate Miriam Buether's original set design from the Young Vic and the Dress Circle will be transformed in the 'Cliffs of Dover'.

Screens will also relay close up shots, live news broadcast-style, to bring a more intimate play watching experience in the larger theatre.

Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson’s play is set in Europe’s largest unofficial refugee camp, the Calais Jungle, which in 2015, became a temporary home for more than 10,000 people. 

The cast is in rehearsal and you can see pictures below.

The Jungle rehearsals. Photo by Marc Brenner

The Jungle rehearsal. Photo by Marc Brenner

Lucy's is a startling story full of humour, horror and sadness but told with subtlety where much is hinted at as well as laid bare.

There was a lone attempt to applaud Laura Linney's stage entrance for her West End debut in My Name Is Lucy Barton indicating, perhaps, that there was at least one American in the audience.

Laura Linney may have an exceedingly impressive array of awards and nominations to her name but that isn't the way here in London, we want to see what an actor can do first before we show our appreciation.

She plays the Lucy of the title in a solo performance, set in hospital-room where a post-op illness is confounding doctors and prolonging her stay.

Reunion and recollection

Lucy's estranged mother appears at her bedside and the story flits between their conversation and recollections from her past.

She is a writer on the verge of success, living in New York with her husband and two children but was brought up by her impoverished parents in an isolated farming community in Illinois.

It was a tough childhood, a combination of living hand to mouth and her mother's necessity-driven, no-crying style of parenting.

Startling story

There is a loneliness to Lucy, a yearning, and she is aware of it. Her mother is proud and gossipy and Linney slips easily between the two in her portrayal.

Lucy's is a startling story full of humour, horror and sadness but told with subtlety where much is hinted at as well as laid bare.

The big test for this production is in how you feel about Julie at the end

Polly Stenham's modern version of Strindberg's Miss Julie sees the titular character (played by Vanessa Kirby) as a coke snorting, rich bitch and Jean (Eric Kofi Abrefa) as her father's ambitious chauffeur.

Opening to the pounding clubby beats of Julie's birthday party she is in the crowd of guests but not really part of it, something which will be played on throughout the play as party-goers drift in and out without paying her any attention.

Easy to dislike

Kirby gives her a convincing complexity. She is easy to dislike - a manipulator with petulant and combustible mood swings. A woman of a privileged who takes no responsibility and can only be trusted with pocket money from her trust fund.

Her father, we hear, avoids her when she drinks because it reminds him of her mother who committed suicide.

If it isn't to get his attention perhaps it is punishment for his new relationship.

Backdrop of grief

Her mother is key to unlocking Julie. Her behaviour has to be viewed against a backdrop of grief and perhaps even post-traumatic shock having been the one to find the body. 

She's also recently been painfully dumped by her fiance; all fuel to add to her fiery behaviour and the relationship that will unfold between her and Jean.

Such a naive giddiness of emotion is ripe for tragedy

Colin Morgan's Owen is one of those airily bright and bubbly people who you suspect gets on with everyone.

He returns from the city to the small farming community where he grew up; he's earning good money as a translator for the English army which is mapping the area.

Ciaran Hinds' Hugh - Owen's alcoholic father - scratches a living as a teacher, entering the classroom with an authority that drapes the room in silence. He teaches Latin and Greek but refuses to teach English.

Owen's work includes anglicising the names of local landmarks for the map. He doesn't see the point of keeping eccentric old names which were born out of long forgotten local stories.

Hugh is more protectionist, wedded to tradition and the classics.

What should your relationship with the past and cultural traditions be?

'Frenemies'

The question is explored through the colourful characters that make up this small Irish community and its 'frenemy' relationship with the English soldiers.

It is this relationship that forms the narrative drive: Developing feelings and misunderstandings breed tension.

As does the pregnant absence of the 'Donnelly twins', the mere mention of which elicits uncomfortable looks.

They are playwright Brian Friel's equivalent of a Chekhov Gun.

Love triangle

There is also a love triangle. Owen's brother Manus (Seamus O'Hara) is in love with Maire (Judith Roddy) who has entered into a relationship with Yolland (Adetomiwa Edun), one of the English soldiers.

Yolland has a romanticised view of Ireland, wants to learn the local language and feels uncomfortable anglicising the Irish names.

Theatre stuff that caught my eye

* Director Jamie Lloyd is back with more Pinter (at the Pinter). It's a season of the one-act plays with a cast including Tamsin Greig, Danny Dyer, Jane Horrocks and Martin Freeman and will run at the Harold Pinter Theatre from 6 September through to January 23. Directors joining Jamie Lloyd include Lia Williams, Patrick Marber and Lindsay Turner.

Southwark Playhouse's new venue at Elephant & Castle. Photo: Rev Stan on Instagram

* Southwark Playhouse is to get not one but two new homes from 2019. Its current spot in Elephant & Castle is hopefully the last of a string of temporary homes but as well as having a venue back under the arches at London Bridge, it's previous home, it will have a brand new theatre in Elephant. In order to secure these permanent homes the theatre needs to raise some more cash - and in return for a donation, you get the chance to have your name or other message inscribed on the wall. Dig deep.

* The Young Vic's rather brilliant production of The Inheritance gets a well deserved West End transfer. It opens at the Noel Coward Theatre Sep 21 until Jan 5.

* Andrew Scott returns to the stage with Simon Stephens superb Sea Wall. This time it has a two week run at the Old Vic from Jun 19. It is a punch in the guts short play (30 minutes) with a breathtaking performance by Scott. Need more convincing? Here's what I wrote about Sea Wall when it had its last short run at the NT's The Shed back in 2013.

* Lenny Henry is back on stage next year (still fangirling after shaking his hand during Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui). This time he's heading to Theatre Royal Stratford East to star in a production of August Wilson's King Hedley II which opens May 17.