"The Two Brothers and the Lions" : a hilarious moral tale against the backdrop of capitalism at the Theater of the Work

“My family, my homeland, it’s him.” This is the motto that we will remember from the play by Hédi Tillette de Clermont-Tonnerre, The Two Brothers and the Lions, currently being performed again on the stages of the Théâtre de l’Å’uvre, in Paris. “Him” being one of the Barclay twin brothers, alter ego and essential pair for an incredible success story of the 20th century which made these two former hawkers of newspapers one of the great British fortunes.

But the story has a catch. In 1990, the two billionaires had the greatest difficulty in inheriting their two daughters, stuck as they were by an astonishing feudal inheritance law then in force in the Channel Islands where they had taken up residence… A fierce fight against “the law and the state” begins for them. The play is inspired by their story, with humor and causticity.

As soon as the room opens, the spectator is put into the English bath. The actors themselves welcome the audience with clichés from across the Channel, in song and in the language of Shakespeare. Dressed identically, they wander the corridors before going on stage to… serve themselves some tea. The fable can begin. How were these two brothers from the people able to achieve “tutoyer Elizabeth II“ ? “Discretion and secrecy, that’s our motto“, respond the main stakeholders. Who are the lions? The billionaires or the lawyers? The play has one hour to answer them.

The text is delivered at high speed and in unison by the actors in a scenography reduced to the essentials, two armchairs on the stage in front of an English tapestry. Between serious posture and moments of unleashed humor, Lisa Pajon and Hédi Tillette from Clermont-Tonnerre alternating with Clara Artur-Vaude and Naïm Bakhtiar impress with their sense of rhythm and draw the audience into their energy.

“The Two Brothers and the Lions” by Hédi Tillette de Clermont-Tonnerre, directed by Vincent Debost and Hédi Tillette de Clermont-Tonnerre, at the Théâtre de l’Å’uvre until July 25, 2026.