The Exchange By Paul Claudel

British premiere of the symbolic masterpiece by the French T.S Eliot.

Jermyn Street Theatre / Hackney Empire

Directed by David Furlong

“Elegance, simplicity and beauty. We laughed a lot without missing the complexity of human nature.”
Michael Donley, Paul Claudel Review

“The reunion of the world.” Paul Claudel

Man playing acoustic guitar wearing a floral Hawaiian shirt and a colorful Hawaiian lei, with a focused expression

On the border of the ocean, in the United States of America, a young couple: Louis Laine, a Native American, and his wife Marthe, a French woman. They meet another couple: Thomas Pollock Nageoire, a rich self-made businessman, and Lechy Elbernon, an eccentric actress. An interactive exchange takes place among people and between cultures and time. The Exchange deals with the contradiction between money and spirituality.

The Play

The Exchange by Paul Claudel is a major play in the French theatrical landscape. This classic masterpiece is unknown in the UK. This contemporary revival of the play is a unique and challenging moment of theatre: a universal cocktail of vaudeville and melodrama. Claudel was 25 when he wrote The Exchange in 1893. He was ahead of his time, a symbolist poet facing his doubts in a world in conflict. Nowadays, this revival of The Exchange seemed the most contemporary choice and was the founding show of Exchange Theatre in 2006.

Paul Claudel

Claudel was like TS Eliot, Virginia Woolf, Joyce, or even Tagore, a symbolist poet. He was a diplomat at the dawn of the first worldwide conflict, working in a world torn between a history of killing and the hope of a brighter future. When looking closely at such a description and comparing it to the present time, are we not yet living once again in a world of uncertainty? Since 9/11, our certitudes have eroded. Today’s world is lost in its contradiction between the world of money and spirituality. The Exchange provides a vision of material opulence which can be coupled with a spiritual emptiness.

A man with arms raised and smiling on stage, with a man in the background reaching out. Stage decor includes a sky and beach scene.

Creative team

Directed by David Furlong

Adapted and Translated by David Furlong and Fanny Dulin

Based on translations by Louise Witherell (USA), Stephen Baine (NZ), and France Herve (FR)

Original Music and Sound Creation by Dilan Hookoomsing

Video Design by David Furlong

Set Design by Paul Wallis and David Furlong

Lighting Design by William Gallegos

With Fanny Dulin, Toby Manley, Kevin Rowntree, and Anna Ruben

A man and a woman onstage talking to each other
A woman in a dress kneeling on the floor with her head resting on her arm in front of a small television
A man sitting on a striped hammock onstage, wearing a white shirt and black pants, with a serious expression.
A woman wearing a white sleeveless dress, is holding a wooden serving board with starfruit slices and a starfruit in her hand, standing against a backdrop of a blue ocean scene.
Woman lying in a hammock writing something
A woman wearing a shiny, metallic blazer, expressing surprise, with her mouth open and eyes wide, on stage with dark background.
A woman in a shiny, light-colored dress leaning over and holding a surfboard with a red and yellow design, on a dark stage
A woman is pointing a gun at a man on a dark stage with spotlights overhead, creating a tense scene.
Two men in suits facing each other. One man is fixing the other's tie
Man crouching and reaching into a briefcase filled with money, with a person standing nearby and gesturing with their hand.