The Lehman Trilogy is a three-act play by Italian novelist and playwrightStefano Massini. It follows the lives of three immigrant brothers from when they arrived in America and founded aninvestment firm through thecollapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008. It has been translated into 24 languages, staged by such directors asLuca Ronconi andSam Mendes,^[1] and was later published as a novel in English.^[2] An English translation of the play by Mirella Cheeseman^[3] was produced at theNational Theatre in 2018. The production, featuring three actors and one pianist, was directed bySam Mendes and included the cast ofSimon Russell Beale,Adam Godley andBen Miles. It earned fiveLaurence Olivier Award nominations.

The production made itsBroadway transfer in March 2020 and performed briefly before theCOVID-19 pandemic. The play resumed performances in fall 2021 withAdrian Lester replacing Ben Miles. The production received universal critical acclaim and eightTony Award nominations, winning five awards including forBest Play,Best Direction of a Play for Sam Mendes, andBest Actor in a Play for Simon Russell Beale.

The play has been criticized both for playing down the role of the Lehman family in slavery^[4] and for the crude, caricatured way in which it portrays the Jewishness of the protagonists.^[5][6]

The Lehman Trilogy opened at Comédie de Saint-Étienne inSaint-Étienne in a French translation. In 2015Luca Ronconi directed the Italian premiere, atPiccolo Teatro inMilan. The play was eventually translated and staged in several cities across Europe.^[7]

Translated by Mirella Cheeseman, adapted by British playwrightBen Power from Massini'sepic poem,^[8] and directed by British directorSam Mendes, the play made its English debut in London at theNational Theatre^[9] in theLyttelton Theatre, running from 12 July 2018 to 20 October 2018.^[10][11]

The National Theatre's staging of the play transferred to the United States at thePark Avenue Armory, in New York City, from 22 March 2019 to 20 April 2019.^[12]

This production then returned to theWest EndPiccadilly Theatre starting on 11 May 2019 for a limited twelve week run, which was extended for another 4 weeks, ending on 31 August 2019.^[13][14]

The National Theatre production was set to revisit the United States, originally to open onBroadway at theNederlander Theatre on 7 March 2020 in previews, officially on 26 March.Adam Godley,Ben Miles, andSimon Russell Beale, who play the three title brothers, their sons, and grandsons, would reprise their performances.^[15][16][17] As of 12 March 2020, the show suspended production due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.^[18] In June 2021, it was reported thatThe Lehman Trilogy would reopen in previews on 25 September 2021 and officially on 14 October. Godley and Beale would return to the production, whileAdrian Lester would replace Miles.^[19] The Broadway production's final performance was on 2 January 2022.^[20]

The National Theatre production appeared at theAhmanson Theatre inLos Angeles in a limited engagement from 3 March 2022 through 10 April 2022, starring Godley, Beale, and Howard W. Overshown, Miles' understudy from the Broadway production.^[21] The production was scheduled to continue inSan Francisco at theAmerican Conservatory Theater,^[21] but was indefinitely postponed on 3 March 2022 with the National Theatre Productions Managing Director citing "a myriad of obstacles that left us unable to say with confidence when the show can arrive in the Bay Area".^[22]

The production returned toLondon'sWest End at theGillian Lynne Theatre for a limited season from 14 January to 20 May 2023, starringNigel Lindsay, Michael Balogun andHadley Fraser.^[23]

An international tour began performances at TheTheatre Royal, Sydney in February 2024, with a cast featuringAdrian Schiller, Aaron Krohn and Howard W. Overshown. The production toured toSan Francisco at theAmerican Conservatory Theater in May and June 2024, withJohn Heffernan replacing Schiller, who died in April 2024.

In September 2024 the production returned again to theGillian Lynne Theatre in London'sWest End for a strictly limited run from 24 September 2024 to 5 January 2025, seeing the same main cast as the International tour.^[24]

Mendes said: "The Lehman Trilogy was developed over three years without the constraint of a schedule, or even a plan — it was allowed time to find its form, and to build a wonderful team with which to make it. One of the chief joys has been to work across borders with two great writers, and to invite three of the finest actors of their generation to work with us. We are indebted to the National Theatre and the Park Avenue Armory for their unstinting support throughout..."^[12]

The original play lasts for five hours^[25] and Power has written it into a three-hour English version. With a cast of only three actors,Simon Russell Beale,Ben Miles, andAdam Godley, the play explores the vicissitude of American capitalism through the 164-year-history ofLehman Brothers, from whenHenry Lehman, aGerman Jew, first migrated to the U.S. and opened his store inAlabama, to thebankruptcy of Lehman Brothers that exacerbated the2008 financial crisis.

The three actors not only play the three Lehman brothers who founded the business but all other roles. They play their children and grandchildren, includingPhilip Lehman (son of Emanuel, played by Simon Russell Beale),Herbert Lehman (son of Mayer, played by Ben Miles), andRobert Lehman (son of Philip, played by Adam Godley), as well as various minor characters^[26] during the unfolding of family history such as wives, toddlers, and business partners, although they never change the original costume – tailored three-piece suits often seen in 19th-century portraits of men. The understudies for the roles of Henry, Emanuel, and Mayer Lehman at the National Theatre wereLeighton Pugh,Dominik Tiefenthaler, and Will Harrison-Wallace, respectively. Tiefenthaler replaced Miles during the show's run at the Piccadilly Theatre.

The play has been highly praised by critics for "the successful adaptation that both preserves the essence, the poetic language of the original play and makes it more succinct"; "the elegant, well-paced direction that narrates with simplicity, depth and richness"; and "the superb, versatile acting of the cast, who seem to metamorphose at will with the characters they put on". The set design byEs Devlin – a rotating glass box furnished in the style of a contemporary office, as well as the video projection in the back stage that accompany the set, showing the changing landscapes in time and space during the development of the business and American capitalism created by Luke Halls, also made a great impression.^[27] BothThe Guardian andThe Times give the play a five-star mark.The New York Times called the Broadway production "captivating" and "a vividly human tale, nimbly performed by three of the finest actors around".^[28]

The play has been critiqued for not mentioning the Lehman family's involvement with slavery.Sarah Churchwell, writing forThe New York Review of Books, criticized the play for "profoundly underplaying not only the firm’s deep entanglement in the slave economy, but also that of the brothers themselves, who held slaves for at least twenty years."^[29]The Washington Post'sRichard Cohen wrote that the play was "silent" on the issue of slavery and that the playwright should have addressed the topic because "To not mention slavery is in itself a statement — of disinterest, of unimportance, of lesser importance, ofsomething. Would an American playwright, confronted on a daily basis with the economic, cultural and historical ramifications of slavery, have made the same decision? I can’t imagine it."^[30]

The play and the National Theatre performances in London have been flagged as antisemitic and racist, showcasing centuries-old stereotypes of Jews as greedy and immoral.^[31][32]

Dave Rich accused the play of perpetuating negative,historical stereotypes aboutJews and money writing inThe Observer, said:

It is gratuitous and overwhelming, far beyond what is necessary to convey the biographical fact that the Lehmans were Jewish. It leaves you feeling that this is not only a play about bankers who are Jews, but a play about Jews who are bankers. And what does it tell us about these Jews? Mainly that they love money and will do anything to get more of it...The Lehman Brothers did not invent the role of middlemen or brokers and they weren’t the only ones to perform this role, but you wouldn’t know that from the play. The charge that Jews are economic parasites, generating unproductive profit from the honest toil of others, has been a staple of anti-Jewish propaganda for centuries.^[33]

Writing in theJewish Chronicle Karen Glaser said:

What was the National Theatre thinking when it decided to bring this play, which taps into every antisemitic trope you have ever heard about Jews and money, back to the London stage – and to stage one of the run’s performances on the anniversary of the biggest massacre of Jews in a single day since the Holocaust?^[34]

The story was further developed into a novel published in Italian in 2016 under the titleQualcosa sui Lehman,^[41] and appeared in English in 2020 asThe Lehman Trilogy, translated byRichard Dixon.^[42]

• Lehman Family

• ​The Lehman Trilogy​ at theInternet Broadway Database

• Italian plays
• 2013 plays
• Lehman Brothers
• Tony Award–winning plays
• Works set in the 2000s
• Fiction set in 2008

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