'The Lehman Trilogy' at the National Theatre

'The Lehman Trilogy' is a play in three parts, each about an hour long, that tells the story of the three brothers that built the Lehman conglomerate and their children and grandchildren on Wall Street from 1848 to 2008. It's a very narrative play - this happened, then that, then one of the brothers had this idea and then that happened, and so on. But, you know what? It really pulled me in so that I wanted to know what happened next. And for that, I largely put it down to the mesmerising first monologue by Simon Russell Beale that dragged me in and made me sit up and listen. I was very impressed with that.

There's a really powerful clarity to the piece, with the writer clearly picking and choosing events to back his vision for the play and that's part of its strength. I couldn't help but wonder if any of the descendants of the family had seen the play and what they thought about it?

The play opens with Henry Lehman getting off the boat in New York, a good Bavarian Jew who has learned to drink and gamble on his journey west, and who opens a store in Alabama. He's then joined by his younger brother and finally by a third brother. The shop prospers and they become cotton traders, inventing the role of middle-men. Henry dies but the middle brother. Emanuel, heads off to New York to open a trading office while Mayer stays in Alabama to run the cotton business. Both somehow survive the Civil War and build the business that comes to focus on trading different commodities in New York.

The next generation appears to take on their roles in steering the company and expanding it into new areas. Then their children appear to take on the company and take it through the stock market crash of 1928 and on through the decades, expanding into new territory like films and computers. Then the greedies appear after the Lehmans have been ousted from their own company and we head towards the 2008 world financial crash.

The play takes place within a rotating set that remains the same throughout, a modern office suite of an office, waiting room and conference room, glass walls and bright lighting. The backdrop was a giant screen for different projections and there are various piles of storage boxes to vary the set. I was't too keen on the set to start off with but when they started writing on the glass walls - signs for the shop, numbers dead in the Civil War - it started to win me over with its versatility and its promise of what was to come.

All the parts were played by the same three actors: Simon Russell Beale as Henry Lehman, Ben Miles as Emanuel and Adam Godley as Mayer. They played the female parts as well as their own children and grandchildren and wore the same frock coats throughout, occasionally turning up the collars. It was definitely a tour de force for each of them and so many, many words to remember. I was very keen on the whole thing and wanted to know what happened next, keen to get back in from the two intervals scheduled to break it up. The linear narrative kept my interest in wanting to know the next part of the story.

I suspect that part of the attraction of this tale is that it's the story of so many families of Americans - parent or grandparents or great-grandparents seeking a better life in America and most making it, though not to the extent of the Lehman brothers. I wonder how many Americans can trace their ancestry in America back to 1848?

The play was written by Stefano Massini, adapted by Ben Power, and directed by Sam Mendes with Es Devlin as the designer. The play really touched something in me that makes me pleased to have seen it. The endless words must've been a challenge to the three actors to memorise, especially for such a long play. Go and see it if you can, it's well worth it.