WRITTEN BY STEFANO MASSINI
ADAPTED BY BEN POWER
DIRECTOR: SAM MENDES
SET DESIGN: ES DEVLIN
CAST: JOHN HEFFERNAN, AARON KROHN AND HOWARD W. OVERSHOWN
GILLIAN LYNNE THEATRE, DRURY LANE, LONDON WC2
DATES: 24 SEPTEMBER 2024 – 5 JANUARY 2025
Centre: Aaron Krohn John Heffernan and Howard W. Overshown; Photos © Mark Douet
REVIEW by KATHLEEN BONDAR
Set against a panoramic backdrop of seas, skies and the New York skyline, The Lehman Trilogy is back on stage from its UK inception at the National Theatre in 2018 to its latest run in the West End until 2025. The phenomenal rise of three Bavarian, Jewish brothers trading in cloth to owners of what became the most powerful banking enterprise in the USA is backed by Es Devlin’s monumental set design and a moving stage in the form of an open plan office.
The narrative unfolds chronologically covering the years which led to the immigrant brothers' meteoric success in the New World.
From the arrival of Hayum Lehman, the son of a cattle merchant, in New York 1844, joined by his brothers Mendel and Mayer, to their enterprises in buying and reselling cotton and the family’s involvement in founding the New York Cotton Exchange.
Those were the early days and in the following decades, the play chronicles the family taking advantage of the stock market collapse in 1873 to turn their attentions to other commodities including coffee and railways and eventually the success of their heirs in backing emerging industries in the twentieth century (airlines, Hollywood and cigarettes). The legacy of the brothers continued after their deaths until we find The Lehman Brother’s offices destroyed in the 2001 terrorist attacks and the final demise in 2008 when the US faced its worst financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Performed with zest and wit by John Heffernan, Aaron Krohn and Howard W. Overshown, the brothers stride the stage in heavy coats from the fatherland and eventually bespoke tails befitting Manhattan financiers. As they accrue, climb and conquer, the brothers stand like monoliths before an audience declaring their stories.
Declaration is the name of the game in The Lehman Trilogy.
Admittedly, there is a splash of dialogue and priceless impersonations by the actors as various children or the wives they win. But overall, the play is delivered in speeches and monologues.
It’s all very powerful and broad sweeping as the decades whirl past along with the spinning set and the cinematic backdrop which at times overwhelms the viewer to the point of vertigo.
The brothers and their progeny proclaim and declare their sagas covering the Jewish immigrant story, civil war, The Great Depression, take-overs, mergers and the astounding collapse of Lehman’s in 2008.
It’s the Forsythe Saga and War Peace and just about any great family epic.
The microcosms of home life and intimacy are largely missing. Women and children are amusing cameos performed by the male actors.
It’s a man’s story, the brother’s story and the world of capitalists steered by men. And yet it doesn’t fall back on chauvinistic stereotypes or macho narratives. There’s no backstabbing, chest beating or conquering heroics. Thanks to a sterling (forgive the pun) cast and creatives The Lehman Trilogy is charged with energy, infused with humour and thoroughly insightful.