The Lehman Trilogy, Gillian Lynne Theatre Review (2024)
L-R John Heffernan, Howard W Overshown, Aaron Krohn in The Lehman Trilogy. Photo by Mark Douet
Reviewed by Franco Milazzo for Theatre and Tonic
Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review.
As Sam Mendes’ The Lehman Trilogy begins its fourth run in London in five years, it begs the question: has Sam Mendes’ production - like the financial institution central to its story - become seemingly too big to fail?
Billed as a “limited encore season”, the play written by Stefano Massini and adapted by Ben Power returns to the Gillian Lynne Theatre featuring Aaron Krohn and Howard W. Overshown (as Mayer and Emanuel Lehman respectively) from the Sydney run earlier this year and new face John Heffernan as Henry Lehman seamlessly slotting in alongside them.
In the first West End theatre named after a woman, this all-male ensemble takes us on a journey, showing how the early Bible Belt enterprises led to the creation of the Lehman Brothers’ banking behemoth, from its founding in the mid-18th century to its foundering in 2008 as part of that year’s financial crisis.
We watch the Bavarian Jewish brothers arrive in the US in 1844 and settle in Montgomery, Alabama. There they set themselves up as merchants in the state’s highest grossing product: cotton. They grew this into a firm which focusses on commodities trading and brokerage and eventually moves to New York City. We watch the ill-fated giant Wall Street giant grow and grow with the family lineage traced down to Emmanuel’s grandson Robert Lehman, the last of the family to run the bank; when “Bobbie” died, his foundation donated close to 3,000 works of art to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The storytelling is phenomenal, Massini’s fast-paced script taking us fluidly through over three hours of drama. That’s longer than many operas but there’s no dip in the emotional journey at any point. What could be a dry study in brokerages and banking thankfully transcends economics to become an intimate portrayal of a dynasty changing and adapting over time.
Massini’s microscopic approach allows us to get to know each family member in startling detail, adding a level of immersion impressive in such a large venue. The serious-minded brothers who landed in America are held up in contrast to their more rebellious and frivolous descendants. The Italian uses his broad historical sweep to play out the cyclical nature of the US going from the horrors of the Civil War to the epic tumult of the Wall Street Crash and the bank’s demise.
Es Devlin’s brilliant boardroom stage lends structure to the action, ensuring that the three leads never seem lost on the Gillian Lynne’s massive space. An off-stage piano underlines the emotional beats while Mendes keeps this rattling express train firmly on the tracks. Even when this play is watched again and again, the experience only deepens, not dulls. The Lehman Trilogy is not too big to fail but this masterwork is a monumental achievement. Even though it is largely a work with its head stuck in the past, it stands out as one of the greatest new dramas of this millennium.
The Lehman Trilogy continues at Gillian Lynne Theatre until 5 January 2025.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
