2006 – 2019 A theatre based on diversity, going beyond borders
The Exchange “Towards the reunion of the world� (Paul Claudel) A theatre based on diversity, going beyond borders. Theatre for the present
Diversity and interbreeding
A sensorial experience
Our theatre is popular and always relevant in the current context, it is spontaneous and makes our choice of classic or modern translations accessible for a 21st century audience, going beyond conservatism.
Our theatre is international and outside any boxes, crossing the borders of cultures and traditions, and creating a cocktail of western pop-culture and non-western influences.
In 20th century western culture, theatre is primarily visual entertainment. We see it with our eyes but do not experience it and learn from it." Jean-Paul Sartre We offer an experience that goes beyond theatre, reaching the public on an emotional level, stimulating our audience on multiple levels of sensations.
Creation Exchange Theatre’s work is connected to the contemporary world. With a highly visual work and sonic or musical creations, using multimedia and multilingualism, our theatre must be both a technical achievement and a sensorial experience in order to create a feeling level. In terms of productions, our primary objective is to make unknown or rare texts discovered. The process implies either new translations of plays, or the production of our own new plays. Beyond the mere discovery, the aim is to make those plays accessible to a 21st century audience.
38 productions amongst which
15 adaptations 14 translations 14 new writings 09 devised plays
24 British premieres 08 guests productions 14 kids productions
In total, 89 actors, 8 directors,
13 sound designs 17 videos designs 18 set designs
13 musicians, 10 set designers, 7 sound designers,
7 lighting designers and 17 technicians have worked with Exchange Theatre.
CHRONOLOGY
2006 Creation of the company Creation and production of the 1st play
2018
2017
Invitation from the
10th annual Festival
Finborough Theatre
Misanthrope supported by
Misanthrope double Offie nomination
Unity Theatre Trust and Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Mentored by Deutsche Bank and Arts Forward
2007 Creation of 1st Workshops
2019
2016
First board of trustees for Exchange Theatre Charitable Incorporated Organisation
2008
The production of The Doctor in
Spite of Himself
Noor, a True Story of Liberté in
1st coproduction with Myriad Production
is nominated for an Offie
residence at Arts Depot, supported by Arts Council of England Revival of The Flies at the Bunker Theatre in Southwark
1st festival
2015
2011 Move into permanent office/ rehearsal space in Southwark
2010—2012
2013
Two year residency at Institut Français
1st production performed alternately in French and English
A pop up set built at the Young Vic Theatre Workshops
June 2019 T H E F L I ES / LES MOUCHES by Jean-Paul Sartre
March 2019 N O O R . A T R U E S TO RY OF LIBERTE by Paul Claudel
10th anniversary revival
World Premiere at Tristan Bates Theatre
Directed by David Furlong. Set design by Ninon Fandre. Music by A Riot in Heaven. Cast to be confirmed.
Divised, written and performed by Fanny Dulin, Benjamin Froehlich, David Furlong and Nadia Nadif. Projection design by Jason Sedon. Performed in English, French and German
Exchange Theatre return with Sartre’s rebellious and highly political play The Flies. Sartre’s thriller re-imagines the Greek tragedy of Electra and Orestes, exploring the complexities of human values in a period of political turbulence. Proud of our international and multi-cultural heritage, Exchange Theatre’s The Flies will be performed in alternating French and English in tribute to Sartre’s roots, and the 1943 play’s origins as a political allegory. Topical and poignant as ever, Electra, Orestes, and their troubled family will be joined on stage by Mauritian band A Riot in Heaven, transforming this tragedy into a modern, tense and thrilling rock opera. As Orestes is hounded by Jupiter, god of flies and death, The Flies examines freedom, oppression and courage.
Based on the life story of Noor Inayat Khan, deveopped at Artsdepot and performed for A Piece of the Continent Festival at Tristan Bates theatre. The story, like a cluedo for the whole family, explores the many layers of her heroism and brings to the public eye the life of an extraordinary French-British-Indian Muslim woman, who found the courage to die fighting against narrow-minded fascism, with the strength and wisdom rooted in her own fascinating multiple identity. world.
Plays November 2018
BECOMING BERENICE
After Jean Racine
May 2018
BREAK OF NOON by Paul Claudel
British Premiere
The English Language London Premiere
Directed by David Furlong. Translated by Rosie Hilal. Music by Tomas Wolsthenholme. Movement director Jenn Kay.
Translation by Jonathan Griffin and Susannah York. In association with Neil McPherson at the Finborough Theatre.
Two lovers strive to hold on to each other as political forces tear them apart. A multi-sensory, poetic tale of one woman’s painful journey to emancipation, this contemporary staging of one of France’s most iconic plays is underpinned by an original score of world- and electronic music and powerful physical elements.
Directed by David Furlong, with Elizabeth Boag, David Durham, Matt Lim and Conor Williams Set design: Ninon Fandre. Lighting design: Alastair Borland. Costume Design: Sarah Habib.
In a new translation by Rosie Hilal, this verse drama is given a powerful, contemporary re-awakening. A French classic hardly known in Britain, Berenice was written by Jean Racine more than 300 years ago. This is the first time a Racine play has been translated by a woman, which given the subject matter and central character of the piece, makes for a uniquely feminist interpretation of his work.
Set in Hong Kong and China at the turn of the 20th century, against the backdrop of the age of Empire and the first whispers of revolt and decolonisation, Break of Noon follows the inner journeys of four people who together depict all the multifaceted faces of Love. A modern French classic, it is a unique poetic and symbolist manifesto, in verse, on the human frailty of ambivalence and the conflicts and contradictions between physical love and spiritual faith.
June/July 2017 & 2018
MISANTHROPE
by Molière
September 2017
T H E G R E AT E X P E R I M E N T by Border Crossing
Directed by David Furlong, with Samuel Arnold, James Buttling, Leo Elso, Fanny Dulin, Luca Fontaine, David Furlong, Palmyre Ligué Simeon Oakes and Anoushka Ravanshad. Set design: Annick Bosson. Lighting design: David Manson. Performed alternately in English and French.
Research and Development ahead of 2018 international tour Directed by Michael Walling. With Nisha Dassyne, David Furlong, Tony Guilfoyle, Rosanna Lowe and Ery Nzaramba. Video design: Shiraz Bayjoo. Performed in English, French and Creole.
In a time of ‘alternative facts’ and ‘fake news’, Misanthrope finds unanticipated echoes in the world today. Alceste, the most loyal man in the world, lacks only one virtue: indulgence for other’s behaviours. His search for genuineness against hypocrisy, special interests and treachery calls for a new London production in 2018. With his unique touch, Off West End Best Director nominee David Furlong returns to direct, fresh from his stint at the Royal Opera House.
The great experiment is about the system of indentured labour that formed the economic basis of the British Empire after the abolition of slavery, and led to vast migrations of South Asian people. Working with researchers from the Universities of Edinburgh and Leeds and partnering with Tara Arts, Border Crossings devises a new play that explores the history that shaped the globalised world, and our relationship with it today.
“The revitalization of Molière’s Misanthrope is a must see”
LondonTheatre1, July 2018
November 2016
MEDEE KALI
by Laurent Gaudé
British Première
Directed by Yanouchka Wenger Sabbatini. With Fanny Dulin and David Furlong. Set design: Annick Bosson. Lighting design: Camille Bortz. Graphic Design by Nelly Sanchez. Performed in French. A graphic sequel to one of the most terrifying myth of Greek Antiquity, by genius living best-selling author Laurent Gaudé. Medée Kali: “Do you want to know what is that fear in my eyes, which contaminates passers by from just one look”.
June/July 2016 THE DOCTOR IN SPITE OF HISELF LE MEDECIN MALGRE LUI by Molière
Directed by David Furlong, with Anita Adam Gabay, Jacqueline Berces, Fanny Dulin, Léo Elso, David Furlong, Matt Mella and Yanouchka Wenger Sabbatini. Set design: Annick Bosson. Lighting design: Camille Bortz. Performed alternately in English and French. Molière meets Breaking Bad! In this classic Molière affair, Sganarelle is a drunk and beats his wife, who in return spreads the word that he is a brilliant doctor who can only work when beaten! Cue a stream of patients and beatings! The Doctor In Spite of Himself offers a protean look into Molière’s trademark wit, and a rare treat for French theatre lovers. “The company’s talent and vision is highly commendable and deserving of larger production values”
The Play’s The Thing - July 2016
November 2015
E T TO I , I S M E N E
by Nathalie Adam after Henri Bauchau
May 2015
ANTIGONE
by Jean Anouilh
London Première New Writing
Commissioned by Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle
Directed by Nathalie Adam with Fanny Dulin, Julie Vignau, Ingrid Saker and David Furlong. Video and set design: Aseel AlYaqoub. Lighting design: Camille Bortz. Additional films: Stephan Palmyre. Co produced by Chemistry Theatre. Performed in French.
Directed by Alexandra Bergeron with Fanny Dulin, David Furlong, Rachel Gemaehling Victor Klein Caroline Roussel and Lula Suassuna. Lighting design: Benedict Cooper. Set design Cleo Harris Seaton. Set constructor Will Wyld. Performed in French.
Set in modern ways and influenced by the refugee’s crisis, Et toi Ismène revisits the myth of Antigone through the eyes of her Sister, Ismène. In a time when we're writing history, when 12 millions of people are migrating from war, this production’s profit was sent to the UN High Commission to Refugees.
« Elle s’appelle Antigone et il va falloir qu’elle joue son rôle jusqu’au bout. » Created for schools, Antigone is an intense, visceral experience exploring the light and dark power, family, duty and love.
“It was excellent. The acting so powerful!”
Louise, St Benedict School - 2015
June/July 2013 & 2014 A FA M I LY A F FA I R U N A I R D E FA M I L L E by Agnes Jaoui and JP Bacri
November 2013 FEMININE
after plays by Virginie Despentes, Magali Mougel, Noëlle Renaude, Philippe Minyana and Laurent Gaudé and Xavier Durringer
London Première
Adapted by Andy de la Tour. Directed by Christine Renard and Emilie Perraudeau. With Nathalie Adam, Jamie Alderson, Pauline Cousty, Alexander Devrient, Fanny Dulin, Susie Fairbrother, David Furlong, Guillaume Laroche, Natalie Law, Jerry Marwood, George Papakyriacou, Blair Robertson, Morgan Sebode, Nick Skaugen and Carole Street. Set design: Cleo Harris-Seaton. Lighting design: Benedict Cooper. Performed alternately in French and in English. Never seen in London, A family Affair is a cult French comedy, by Agnès Jaoui and Jean-Pierre Bacri (Cuisines et Dépendances, Le Goût des Autres), which won the best script award at the César. when they adapted it for the big screen.
“Everything here is perfectly spick and span, well organised and genuinely enjoyable” One Stop Arts - July 2013
Created by David Furlong. With and directed by Maud Madlyn, Alexandra Bergeron, Géraldine Cottalorda, Christine Renard, Magali Muxart, Fanny Dulin, Nathalie Adam and Emilie Perraudeau. Lighting design: Benedict Cooper. Visual design: Vincent Castevert. A show made for actresses. Created with an accent on the collective process rather than the product, we searched unknown monologues and devised the piece, each alternating the roles of actresses and directors. The show addressed this universal issue that is parity, and made discovered jewels of new French writing for women.
February 2012
C LO C K S
or Around Jules Vernes in 80 minutes
July 2011
L A DY M AC WATA by Magali Muxart
New Play
New Play
Devised by and with Alex Kanefsky and David Furlong. Lighting design: Benedict Cooper. Video design: David Furlong.
Directed, percussions and sound creation by David Furlong. With Magali Muxart and Elisa Alexis. Lighting design: Benedict Cooper. Performed in French.
Alex and David’s quirky double act get together to tell all Jules Verne’s “voyages extraordinaires” with the same kind of unusual props, no costumes, a smoke machine. They play all the characters: Passe-Partout, Phileas Fogg, Captain Nemo and even the machines! A funny and playful way to discover the one who was the pioneer of science fiction, space travel, water travel and much more. Also with a video creation as crazy as hilarious!
An actress prepares to play Lady Macbeth. She can’t find her dark and criminal side, and decides to invoke «Mamie Wata», a witch from her childhood in Africa. Lady Mac Wata is a trip in the schizophrenia of actors, in African mysticism, and into the curse of the Scottish play. With percussions and Congolese hip-hop, the play encapsulates our unique cultural bridge created between France, Africa and the UK.
March 2010
S Q UA R E ( D )
by David Furlong
New Play
Translated by Benedict Cooper. Directed by Francesca Seeley. With David Furlong, Toby Manley, Duncan Barrett and Stephen Leask. Set design: Mike Lee. Video design: Ian Latimer and Aaron Rackley. A grunge farce, the most chaotic form of theatre, about four thirty-something who realise one night that they have the same meaningless consumerist purpose, and even the same mistress. A “tarantinesque” experience.
“Very entertaining with a reminiscence of Shallow Grave”
Nuala Calvi (The Stage) - 2010
August 2008 and March 2009
T H E F L I ES
by Jean Paul Sartre
Directed by and with David Furlong and Kevin Rowntree. Assisted by Blanche McIntyre. With the band A RIOT IN HEAVEN and Shani Perez, Fanny Dulin, Pierre Becker, Brett Foulser, Miranda Colman, Niall Costigan, Filippos Kanakaris, Adam Piercy, Sadao Ueda and George Xander. Co-production Myriad Productions/Indie Ocean. The most bloody tale of fight for liberty by rebel and Nobel Prize Winner. Sartre meets Fight Club. Exchange Theatre meets Myriad Production’s vigorous Asian techniques for a visual and physical piece of theatre. Pursuing the work with integrated music, the play is performed with the band A Riot in Heaven live on stage!
“It’s commendable to see so much innovation, invention and energy” Fringereview - July 2008
July 2008, 2009 & 2010
F E Y D E AU D O U B L E B I L L
Madame’s Late Mother A House Bath
November 2007
BAL TRAP
by Xavier Durringer
Two British Premières
British Première
Translation by David Furlong and Fanny Dulin. Directed by Samuel Miller and Gaël Colin. With David Furlong, Fanny Dulin, Anna Ruben, Emma Green, Niall Costigan, Andy Dowbiggin and Heather Wilds.
Translation by David Furlong and Fanny Dulin. Directed by David Furlong. With Hannah Lean, Fanny Dulin, John Mc Quaid, Robert Shilton and Dilan Hookoomsing. Co-production: Strange Gain.
A double bill of unknown and newly translated hilarious French farces. Two classics of French comedy based on the simplest misunderstandings.
“Exchange have done a service making those plays available in English” Reviewsgate - July 2009
Durringer, considered as the “French Ravenhill” approved the translation in person. One of the most important playwrights in France thanks to a unique “urban poetry”, his language is crude and direct. The play gave us the opportunity to investigate the use of live music integrated into the show, with a guitarist playing live throughout the piece, not as transitions but to underline emotions.
October 2007
BUSINESS
by David Furlong
July 2006 and 2007
T H E E XC H A N G E by Paul Claudel
New Play
British Première
Written and directed by David Furlong. Translation: Emma Green. With Alexandre Liaume, Allen Lidkey and Paul Bruce. Set design and video creation: David Furlong. Lighting design: William Gallegos. Sound design: Dilan Hookoomsing.
Translation by David Furlong and Louise Witherell. Directed by David Furlong. With Fanny Dulin, Anna Ruben, Toby Manley, Kevin Golding and Kevin Rowntree. Original music and sound creation: Dilan Hookoomsing. Set design: Paul Wallis and David Furlong. Lighting design: William Gallegos.
Co-production: Medialex. An Englishman, a Frenchman and an American are stuck in an airport in Siberia. A globalised comedy pushing further the visual and sonic work, devised with ten dazzling moments of theatricalism.
“This play is important because it talks about things we all think about”
Fringe review - October 2007
The founder show of the company, it already contains the basis of our work: highly visual, multi-lingual with subtitles, use of videos and original musical composition for a real sensorial experience. David Furlong’s directorial debut. “Elegance, simplicity and beauty. We laughed a lot without missing the complexity of human nature”
Paul Claudel Review - August 2006
Family Plays In 2010, Exchange Theatre starts a new residency at the French Institute aimed at a young audience with the commission to present a selection of major French tales. The goal is to translate in order to turn them into bilingual and experimental adaptations in a non-theatrical site and later on, in the auditorium of the cinema. Whilst making sure make sure to keep our sparkle of interactivity, we wrote and devised a series of workshops, readings and children shows which created a real exchange between the audience and the actors, always breaking the fourth wall. Thanks to its humour, our team managed to seduce not only the young one but also the grown ups!
Nut! after Alexandre Dumas père - December 2010 and 2011
The nutcracker is the most famous Christmas tale. Dumas wrote his own version for his daughter as an encouragement to dream. It was the best choice for our first Christmas, when we turn the Médiathèque into a toy battlefield. This show confirmed our permanent residency.
How to Make a Good Little Riding Hood? after Charles Perrault - January 2011 and November 2011.
Perrault is most certainly the most famous children author. He inspired Hoffman, the Grimm brothers and many more. It was the most appropriate choice to start the creative residency. In How to make a good riding hood, we look at what it is like to be the most famous children writer.
The Untold Story of Sleeping Beauty after Anatole France - February 2011
France, famous novelist and 1921 Nobel Price winner in Literature, published in 1909 “the Seven Wives of Blue Beard and other fairy tales”, a series full of humour and surprises, unexpected for a renown 'serious' author. Performed as a promenade in the Institute, our adaptation follows two subjects of Sleeping Beauty who also slept for a hundred years… Funny and witty.
Tales to Ninon ou Simplice after Emile Zola - March 2011
Before becoming one the most translated French author with Therese Raquin, the first Zola book as “Tales to Ninon”. We took a plunge into the world of the young man who would become the greatest 'Literary naturalist', a world full of stories of romance, anticipated ecology, fairies and simple minded princes.
Clocks! after Jules Verne - April 2011 and January 2012
Verne is the pioneer of science fiction and the third most translated writer in the world. He wrote about space and underwater travel and about cutting edge technology before it was all possible. We decide to play around “Master Zacharius”, a forgot novel about time, clocks and madness.
Passing through Maupassant, The Necklace after Guy de Maupassant - May 2011
Considered the father of novels, he wrote more than 300 short stories and six major novels. We chose to jump into his slightly dark but yet great mind. Mixing humour and supernatural elements, the show turned the Médiathèque into the ballroom it once was and was like a gothic experience, but still made for children.
Pictures of Love after Théophile Gautier - June 2011 and June 212
With Hugo, Musset and Stendhal, Gauthier is one of the most important “romantique” author of the 19th century. Mixing beauty and comedy, his famous novels inspired lot of modern films (like The Mummy). We wrote Pictures of Love based on two novels where paintings are alive and carpets fall in love.
The Peau d’Ane Rehearsal after Charles Perrault - February 2012
A bunch of actors have to act out Peau d’Ane. But they don’t know the story. Nevertheless the show must go on! The magic of theatre appears when they discover a trunk full of costumes. “Let’s improvise” say the director. And this is how they tell the craziest story Perrault has ever written. It’s like a Pirandello play but for kids.
Le Chat in Boots after Charles Perrault - May 2012
No need to introduce Puss in Boots. We created a faithful version of the fantastic cat story who manages, through tricks, to make his master noble and rich! But our cat is special: not only does he talk, he also breakdances! A show with a contemporary dancer as a special guest.
Scrouge! after Charles Dickens - December 2012 and 2013 (Ciné Lumière)
To close the residency and come back to an English author, we chose to honour Dickens. Scrouge! Is a bilingual adaptation of the Christmas Carol with a French touch. Performing in the cinema, the show is a multimedia explosion and an authentic musical in the best West End tradition.
Education Exchange Theatre's education branch was born after a genuine observation: there are 300 000 French people in London yet there was no theatre workshops available for amateurs. Our concept is simple:
Practice drama in London in your native language
“Beyond an excellent drama class, the workshop is a beautiful human adventure” (Auriane, student ) Adult Amateur Classes (Le Workshop) In 2007, our first workshop destined to Francophile amateurs was created. We convey, with our educational branch, the same idea of exchange than with our main work. We place generosity, fun and sincerity in acting at the centre of our courses to help the youngest as the oldest to blossom. Since the creation of those classes, the students have performed around thirty shows . Children Drama Classes (Le Petit Theatre) The classes are an occasion for the children to get together around a cultural, collective and creative activity in French. We teach drama as a solidarity tools between the kids. The classes aims toward the human factors as a group and the necessity of sharing. It also helps to develop the children’s cognitive sense, interactive skills and social faculties towards others and a good opportunity to practise and brush up French without noticing it!
Children and school educational workshops After launching our private classes, we were approached by English schools to teach languages to children through drama. This was an opportunity for us to develop a new form of theatre for children, a new philosophy based on games and pedagogy. We now offer many plays and workshops offering students the chance to discover a piece in its original language. We give children an entertaining and creative way to learn French. We developed workshop for nursery toddlers to A level students. Always in an exchange and discover approach, we adapt our work to the national education curriculum.
Exchange Theatre have their own premises in London Bridge where the company works, runs their classes and rehearse their shows. The T.R.A.P. (Theatre, Rehearsals, Auditions, Productions) also welcomes friend companies who need a space to develop their work. Among regular users: The Faction, Paper Balloon, Equity and Theatre Lab Theatre. The office is an open space for emerging theatre companies in need of a base. It is named after our first public patron and supporter, Xavier Durringer, whose play Bal Trap was created for the first time in Britain in English.
50 square meters 05 minutes from London Bridge Station 0Bright and clean 0Piano 0Chairs and tables for meetings 0Private Toilets
Contacts Executive Director Fanny Dulin
Artistic Director David Furlong 0787 529 5917 david@exchangetheatre.com
0790 3311 723 fanny@exchangetheatre.com
46 Oxford drive, Magdalen street London SE1 2FB Tel 0207 403 8560
www.exchangetheatre.com