The Lehman Trilogy
Gillian Lynne Theatre, London, to May 20
One would not on the face of it expect a play about the history of a bank to make for compelling theatre – not least when it stretches to more than three hours – but The Lehman Trilogy succeeds almost despite itself.
It helps, of course, that it has three actors at the top of their game playing the Lehman brothers – Hadley Fraser, Michael Balogun and Nigel Lindsay – and one of the best directors in the business in Sam Mendes. The audience’s first glance at Es Devlin’s superb set – a vast glass boardroom looking out over New York City – immediately makes it clear this is a show that means business in every possible sense.
Ben Power’s adaptation of Stefano Massini’s original magisterial work is about so much more than just a bank, but also the spirit and genius of a
generation of Jews who came to America towards the end of the 19th century, and it’s the story, too, of America, which has proved its resilience through changing generations, wars and economic crises.
The epic length means it is a test of the physical endurance of the actors, but it is a test, too, of their range. They have to essay the Lehmans through the generations and a great many beard lengths, and they are required also to
be able to play pathos and comedy, impetuous youth and advanced old age. Fraser and Balogun even have to double up as babies and all three have to periodically change sex.
It sounds absolutely bonkers, but they pull it off, magnificently. The play is a joyous celebration not just of great writing and acting, but also of the art of theatricality. It’s invidious to have to pick out just one of the actors for special praise, but Fraser – who I recall as a dashing young lead in musicals such as The Far Pavilions and The Fantasticks – brings an extraordinary maturity and depth to all the Lehmans and the associated characters he plays. I was struck in the play’s closing moments, as he took part in a manic dance routine that
physically expressed the insanity of greed, how only an actor with his wide-ranging experience could have made it work.
In contrast to the awful Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons, where every one of its 85 minutes felt like an eternity, the three hours and three acts of The Lehman Trilogy rushed by for me. My only gripe with the play – starting off as it does in the immediate aftermath of the bank’s collapse in 2008 – is that glosses over all the drama leading up to its filing for bankruptcy. Other than that, it’s perfect theatre.
