Review: Another Chance To See The Extraordinary Lehman Trilogy
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Last Updated 14 October 2024
On the face of it, everything about The Lehman Trilogy is big.
A Hollywood director. A formidable running time with two intervals. The backdrop of a fast-expanding New York City. The subject matter — those once-unconquerable titans of finance, the Lehman Brothers.
But what's striking about Sam Mendes' biographical fable of three Jewish immigrants and their pursuit of the American dream, is how — just as in the story itself — such magnitude and majesty springs from humble things. A single piano takes the strain of what, in another production, might be delegated to an entire orchestra. The cast of three (and by the way, a doff of the stovepipe hat to tonight's understudy Leighton Pugh) quickly propagate from the original brothers, into their offspring, Alabamian cotton field owners, tightrope walkers, southern belles and thumb-sucking toddlers. Their props are just workaday items: marker pens, cardboard boxes, a bunch of tulips — yet all are masterfully wielded. Every word of Ben Power-penned dialogue is considered and sharp as a tack ("He looked like a smile surrounded by a person").
The Lehman Trilogy is not just a history of one investment banking company, but a highly-concentrated rundown of Western capitalism. That could be hard-going, shifting-in-your-seat theatre, yet it's crafted with such riveting power that those three hours melt into hardly any time at all. Unlike Lehman Brothers itself, the play never wavers or collapses under its own weight. Coming from someone who sometimes struggles with films over 90-minutes long, that's high praise indeed.
This play — which was originally staged in 2018 — doesn't need the Londonist seal of approval. The Telegraph hailed it "a masterwork and a must-see". The Times, "A mesmeric epic". Consider this write-up less review, more public service announcement. A remarkable piece of theatre is back in the West End, but only till Christmas. Give yourself an early present by going to see it.
The Lehman Trilogy, Gillian Lynne Theatre, until 5 January 2025
