As he takes on the title role in Farewell Mister Haffmann, a wartime drama set in Nazi-occupied Paris, Alex Waldmann tells us how it feels to lead the popular French play
Though lesser-known here, Farewell Mister Haffmann is one of France’s most successful, longest running plays. It’s won four Molière Awards and was made into a gripping, suspenseful film in 2022. The drama, by Jean-Philippe Daguerre, follows the story of Jewish jeweller Joseph Haffmann, who owns a shop in Nazi-occupied Paris and is forced into hiding in his own cellar. In order to keep his secret and keep the business going, he comes to an extraordinary agreement with his employee Pierre Vigneau.
In November 2023, an English language version of the play debuted in the Studio of Bath’s Theatre Royal. Now, as Jeremy Sams’ adaptation, directed by Oscar Toeman, makes its London premiere at Park Theatre, we speak to actor Alex Waldmann about taking on the title role.
While the audience will inevitably take away their own conclusions of the play, I was struck by the storyline about the length to which a couple will go in order to have a child…
“I think there will be people who come to see it who will feel it’s a unique take on a Holocaust story. It’s a brilliant premise that my character, Joseph Haffmann, hands over the business to his non-Jewish apprentice Pierre in order to get through the war, because Jews weren’t able to run businesses. And he’s already had to smuggle out his wife and four children to Switzerland.
“In return, Pierre makes a counter-proposal: “We will keep you hidden, but will you sleep with my wife in order that we can conceive a child?” That’s what I think is unique about this piece. A child is the missing part of Pierre and his partner’s lives; Joseph has four, so Pierre thinks he’ll be able to get his wife pregnant. They all, maybe naively, think it’ll happen straight away but it doesn’t, so over the course of two years, as Joseph has monthly sexual relations with Pierre’s wife Isabelle, Pierre begins to feel undermined.
“Meanwhile, the shop is not only surviving but thriving on the back of Nazi money. So there’s a huge moral dilemma there, too.”
