David Furlong is the founder and artistic director of Exchange Theatre and the Jerwood Assistant director at the Young Vic on Orfeus-A house music Opera. He was mentee of sduk 2017 and nominated for best director in 2018 and best production 2019 at the Off West End awards.
He trained as an actor in France at the National Theatre of Chaillot. Prior to his training, he was part of a rep company for which he performed many French classics: Moliere, Hugo, Marivaux, Musset. In Paris, he worked with many major directors including Hans Peter Cloos, Deborah Warner and Michel Lopez. His theatre credits in France include Monserrat in Monserrat, the Father in Tatoo, Camille in A Flea in His Ear. In London, he took part in many productions including Love’s Labours Lost, The Rover, Red Oleander and the Rover. For Exchange Theatre, he was Orestes in JP Sartre’s the Flies. Philippe in A Family Affair, Alceste in Misanthrope and Macbeth in Macbeth. He's also an experienced deviser (Noor, The Great Experiment).
He has directed many plays for the company: The Exchange by Paul Claudel, Bal Trap by Xavier Durringer, Business which he also wrote, The Flies, Moliere's Misanthrope.
He has worked with Jo Hill-Gibbins on the Changelling at the Young Vic and as assistant director at the Geneva Studio Opera, then Madama Buttefly at the Royal Opera House and Hadestown at the National Theatre.
David has now taught for over eight years in both French and English. He was a guest teacher at Arts Educational Foundation courses. He is still a personal coach to many professional actors.
“I was trained with a French heritage, close to the work of Patrice Chereau or Antoine Vitez, before pursuing a permanent ongoing training in the Uk, encountering various methods as diverse as vigorous Non- western methods, 'The actor and the Target' and even very psychological 'actor's studio. What I've learned from all of it, is how much an actor becomes interesting whenever he is engaged or engages more with anything outside of him, to bring his best out of him. Others or other worlds"
Projects
- IN Exchange, the documentary⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ "IN Exchange is a reminder of all the theatre companies creating work to feed London's once thriving fringe scene and the hope that it will soon be flourishing once more." -The Reviews Hub IN Exchange is a feature length documentary chronicling the highs and lows of our 2018 production of Molière's The Misanthrope. This truly cinematic experience directed by filmmakers Marie Loury and Léo-Paul Payen is an immersion into Exchange's unique multicultural process, and the personal relation
- The Cat in (re)bootsExchange Theatre is back on stage at the Brighton Fringe Festival with The Cat in (re) boots! With Kindness, Fraternity and Diversity, our anti-racist version reclaims Puss in Boots for what he really is: all he does is out of generosity and justice. Seen as a cunning joker and a thief, Puss in Boots is one of the most beloved heroes for the children as the adults! He makes his master's fortune by playing tricks on everyone, but are they tricks or justice? One of the best models of social mobil
Work history
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Jerwood Assistant DirectorYoung Vic Theatre
66 The Cut, Waterloo, London SE1 8LZ, UKFull Time
Orfeus - A House Music Opera by Nmon Ford directed by Charles Randolph Wright. Jerwood Assistant director - Young Vic theatre
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Artistic DirectorThe exchange Theatre
46 Oxford Dr, London SE1 2FB, UKFull Time
2019 4 weeks The Flies by Jean-Paul Sartre Bunker Theatre UK / Exchange Theatre
A bloody tale of existentialist freedom with a live rock band and live video design. Sartre meets Fight Club.
2018 Becoming BERENICE by Racine, translated by Rosie Hilal Voila Festival/Exchange Theatre/Theatre Forge
A musical-physical timeless classic about a woman's self-determination
2017 and 2018 8 weeks The Misanthrope by Moliere CPT /Drayton Theatre / Exchange Theatre
A 21st century take to revive the deepest of Moliere's plays vs Fake news. Funded by Unity Trust and RBKC
2016 8 weeks The doctor in Spite of Himself by Moliere Drayton Theatre / French lycee / Exchange Theatre
A contemporary take to revive the rarest Moliere's farce about his own creative journey. Offie nominated.
2012 2 weeks Scrouge adapted after Charles Dickens French Institute in London / Exchange Theatre
A Christmas musical, a bilingual and multimedia experience for Young Audiences 5-11.
2011 2 weeks Lady Mac Wata by Magali Ngongon Ngege Lion and Unicorn Theatre / Exchange Theatre
A congolese play on Shakespeare and African Mystycism with Congolese Hip Hop and live percussions.
2010 1 week Square(d) by David Furlong New Wimbledon Studio / Exchange Theatre
A grunge farce, the most chaotic form of theatre, about consumerism with live projections and a live rabbit.
2008 2 weeks Bal Trap by Xavier Durringer Stoked Festival / Exchange Theatre
British Premiere of "The French Ravenhill". A four hander of urban poetry with a live musician.
2007 4 weeks Business by David Furlong Pleasance Theatre / Medialex / Exchange Theatre
A 'globalised comedy' with projections and moments of "dazzling theatricality"
2006 2 weeks L’echange by Paul Claudel Hackney Empire / Jermyn St. Theatre / Exchange
British Premiere critically acclaimed. The Founder show of the company with Live Music and videofeeds.
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Skills
- Directing
- Directing Actors
- Directing Film
- Acting
- Acting Teaching
- Acting Performing
- Directing Theatre
- Theatre Acting
- Theatre Directing
- Writing