Lehman Trilogy - NT / Gillian Lynne

I'm going tonight and had been slightly dreading it, thanks for giving me a glimmer of hope nev

Saturday night Ryan?? 

Oui!

Well. Exposition ahoy! I feel like I've spent over three hours watching one of those Channel 5 drama/documentaries. There's so much standing at the front of the stage telling the story (often speaking about their own characters in the third person) that I half expected someone to pull out a projector to demonstrate their point on occasions. Alas, they did not.

There's also a piano player at the side of the stage which for a moment I got excited thinking that she was going to raise up like an old fashioned cinema organ but that excitement was soon stamped out. She got a bit loud at times and started getting distracting but I forgive her, she's sat there for a very long time. She must get bored.

While it's a fascinating story (although they really deal with the beginnings of the bank rather than its 'collapse') and I did enjoy it, I found it all a bit too long myself (although strangely the third act feels really rushed) and it got mildly less interesting as the whole thing went on but the cast are strong and work had for their money. Dame Sir Lord Simon Russell Beale does steal it for the most part and both he and Adam Godley play off each other very well as the 'couples'. If I have a problem with the show I think it's that each act is just a variation on a theme and there's no real drama or any light and shade. What you get in one act is virtually the same as you get in the others really - they look the same, they sound the same, they feel the same, they're performed in the same way. It's almost like a fringe play that's just been given a bigger budget. Although they do move all of the boxes around to different places in each act so that mixes it up a bit. Which is nice.

On the plus side, there's some delightful twisting from Dame Sir Lord Simon Russell Beale and Ben Miles, some nice coats, some funny accents, two men kissing and if you love a revolve, you'll be in heaven. The '80s office chic' set is spinning around more than Kylie in a gold hot pants disco comeback.

Oh and for those interested in those kinds of things, there are gun shots in the third act and some dizzy inducing video screen work too.

I was there last night and agree with lots of what was said. Really enjoyed it, actors were great, was very long but last act rushed, comedy bits were very funny, the set was brilliant and well used, loved the twist and well, it's got SRB in. I liked the narration style telling of the story, thought that was quite clever.

Nominate myself for bad behaviour thread. I was desperate to say hello to Ryan so shouted out your name in a scene reminiscing 'Dan, Dan, Dan'. The only trouble with that is everybody turns and looks who is shouting and making the commotion. Can't believe I was so close, but so far away. Still probably for the best. Never meet your heroes eh Ryan

LOL. From now on I am definitely calling him DSLSRB.

No spoilers, but if the subject matter doesn't grab you, then SRB or no SRB, I think you'll be bored to tears. 

I saw this last night - on my own as I reckoned it might be a bit of a Marmite show. I had very charming people sat next to me - I wonder if people choosing to see an esoteric show like this on the night of an important England football match might be a particularly what-the-hell-devil-may-care group. One of my row comrades said he'd been told there had been 40 cancellations for that night, but it looked very full where we were. The audience was entirely intent during the show but at each interval we were all checking our phones for the results and pretending we knew something about football.

The design for this was fantastic and I don't think I've ever seen projections used more effectively. If you are inclined towards dizziness, the whirling revolve and projections might at times get to you (there is a notice up in the theatre about this) but I liked both.

The performances were all superb. I think this was one of my favourite of Ben Miles' performances - and the costumes and the beard really suit him. He is less overtly comic than the other two actors, but he had an inner drive that made his characters' restless pursuit understandable. I grew a little weary of Adam Godley's 'potato' joke in the first act but he was wonderful as Robert Lehman and that was perhaps my favourite section of the play. The twisting scene really worked for me - Godley provides AMAZING tour de force stuff in it.


I was in P in the stalls - very good view for this production. And compared to the hell of the Grand Circle at the Aldwych Theatre, the seats seemed wildly capacious.

I wasn't enamoured of the first act, which felt a bit cold and over-explanatory, and I think a very few people might have left after that act - but Acts 2 and 3 were compelling and seemed to fly by. Much of my experience mirrors n1david's above and as he says, probably not for everyone, but I would recommend.

Pioneerists are always overbearing in my experience. It's in the job description!

3 "scolding" performances? I was there as well and don't recall being scolded in the slightest LOL !

I've seen brilliance and it's full of cardboard boxes.

I went this afternoon too and noted the absence of billiard balls - that must have been cut. Really enjoyed this and it zipped along. Wonderful movement (choreography) and Es Devlin set. And appropriately beautiful tailoring. My only problem with it was that I thought the final act was a bit rushed and whereas the rest had been easy to follow I got lost in the 21st century stuff. Well deserved good reviews.