Out of the Margins

“Writing this script has changed my life in many ways” 

The Lehman Trilogy is a three-act play by Italian novelist and playwright Stefan Massini, translated by Mirella Cheeseman, and adapted by British playwright Ben Power. It follows the lives of three immigrant brothers from when they arrive in America and found an investment firm through to its collapse in 2008. The play was first produced in the West End in 2018 by the National Theatre, directed by Sam Mendes, earning five Olivier Award nominations. 

This is a rare hardback special edition, privately published in 2021 to mark the show's return to Broadway after the pandemic, containing 121 pages of annotations, with over half the pages marked with the playwright’s notes. And what insights there are! From the creation process: “We originally workshopped the text with 18 actors….. After three days, Sam sent half of them home. Another three left after two more days and so on, until we just had the three brothers.” To closing on Broadway during the pandemic: “One small silver lining was the experience of being part of the Broadway community on the night… Actors, writers, directors all found each other and commiserated together… It was the last time any of us would feel part of that community in a very long time.” 

There are detailed notes on actors bringing lines to life and how the audience received different moments including differences between audiences (“A line that always gets a laugh in New York”). The playwright highlights moments in the script which are repeated and which are significant dramaturgical hinges for the author. Ben Power reveals his favourite speech which “captures the experience of seeing NY for the first time as an outsider”. There are notes on design: how lines in the script led the team to the design elements, like writing on glass walls, and the wider ‘total theatre’ aspect with the design, projections, lighting all coming together, where “the text is only doing a small part of the work”. There are affectionate nods to actors’ preparations: “Simon [Russell Beale] worked very hard on his Hebrew with the Rabbi who consulted for the production. By New York he was excellent!”