CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS TO THE LEHMAN TRILOGY
Playing on the Gillian Lynne Theatre 24 January – 20 May 2023
The Lehman Trilogy is a extremely acclaimed three-act play written by Stefano Massini. It had been translated into 24 languages, initially opening at Comédie de Saint-Étienne in French in 2015 adopted by an Italian translation at Piccolo Teatro, Milan in 2015. The English language translation was tailored by Ben Power and opened on the National Theatre in 2018 underneath the exemplary route of Sam Mendes. Originally 5 hours lengthy, Ben Power’s English translation is available in at simply three hours and was a strong hit with audiences and critics alike. The play quickly transferred to the Park Avenue Armory, New York City in 2019 and was on account of open on Broadway in 2020. Delayed by the pandemic, The Lehman Trilogy lastly landed on Broadway in 2021, successful a number of Drama League Awards, Outer Critics Circle and Tony Awards for 2022 earlier than shifting to Los Angeles for a restricted engagement. Having conquered the US, the celebrated National Theatre manufacturing is again in London this yr opening on the Gillian Lynne Theatre for a restricted season.
On a chilly September morning in 1844, a younger man from Bavaria stands on a New York dockside dreaming of a brand new life within the new world. He is joined by his two brothers, and an American epic begins. 163 years later, the agency they set up – Lehman Brothers – spectacularly collapses into chapter 11, triggering the biggest monetary disaster in historical past. Weaving collectively almost two centuries of household historical past, The Lehman Trilogy charts the common-or-garden beginnings, outrageous successes, and devastating failure of the monetary establishment that may in the end convey the worldwide financial system to its knees.
In this return manufacturing, Sam Mendes directs Michael Balogun, Hadley Fraser and Nigel Lindsay because the Lehman brothers Emanuel, Mayer and Henry as they navigate this mammoth play. Playing their subsequent sons, grandsons and wives all through the Lehman brothers 163 yr historical past, they’re joined by pianist Yshani Perinpanayagam who underscores the motion from an upright piano on the foot of the stage and sometimes turns into a part of the story herself.
The vastness of the Lehman Brothers historical past is humanised via Michael Balogun, Hadley Fraser and Nigel Lindsay’s glorious performances. Switching characters with ease and infrequently narrating their very own tales in third particular person, Ben Power’s script is encompassing and beautifully descriptive because the actors transfer round Es Devlin’s trendy New York workplace set utilizing easy filling packing containers to depict time, place and setting. From their unpresuming beginnings as Nigel Lindsay’s Henry “the head” Lehman, Michael Balogun’s Emanuel “the arm” Lehman and Hadley Fraser’s Mayer “the potato” Lehman via to final Lehman to personal the corporate Bobbie Lehman’s tragic finish; all three actors show very good talent in tackling every character with wit, humor and reverence.
This return manufacturing of The Lehman Trilogy is gorgeously theatrical because it accounts historical past in parallel to the Lehman Brothers story. We journey together with Emanuel, Mayer, Henry and their kin via wars, technological breakthroughs and financial disasters because the play in the end chronicles how American capitalism misplaced its method. Does the play must be so long as it’s? Probably not, nonetheless with richly drawn characters, sensational performances and gripping drama, The Leman Trilogy deserves the numerous accolades and awards its acquired and stays a tour de drive that’s nonetheless strickling related right now.
Reviewed by Stuart James