Three hours twenty minutes in the theatre watching the rise and fall of The Lehman Brothers? It might not sound like something you'd want to buy into in but this production has proved to be a sound investment. Director Sam Mendes stripped back-yet-striking production has already conquered London and Broadway and now it is in the West End and set to be a banker again. 

 

I'd have liked to have seen the production with Simon Russell Beale, but the Anglo-American cast here – it's a three-hander with the trio of John Heffernan, Aaron Krohn and Howard W Overshown taking on mutliple roles, family members, lovers and rivals – is never less than impressive. Physical and funny when they need to be (doing the twist in unison is a gawky highlight), brutal and tough as nails when required. 

 

It's certainly an interesting idea. Ben Power has adapted Stefano Massini’s five-hour epic poem to tell the story of three generations of Lehmans. It all starts with three brothers arriving from Bavaria in the 1840s with little money and even less English, resulting in their Jewish names being Anglicised by immigration. It's a familiar story to me. A friend's surname is Alterman because nearly 100 years ago his elderly ancestor arirved at customs and said "Ich bin ein Alter Mann".

 

After modestly opening a shop in Alabama and then expanding by buying and selling cotton, business is good. And it gets even better when Henry, Emanuel and Mayer become middle men, dishing out loans, increasing their profits exponentially, moving to New York and eventually turning into a bona fide bank. What could possibly go wrong?

 

Of course anyone with a passing knowledge of financial history knows how this story will end. And even if they don't the sight of staff carrying out their possessions in boxes at the very start is a pretty big spoiler. But that does not mean watching the epic saga unfold isn't thoroughly enthralling.

 

As we see the trio age and then the next generation take over, we are heading for the Wall Street Crash. Brokers jump from skyscrapers, others blow their brains out. It's a bloodbath both literally and financially. Can the Lehmans survive? There is a cynical streak at play as they work out how to stay afloat and then realise that there will be rich pickings for them if there is a war.

 

Being someone with a Jewish background I did shift slightly awkwardly in my seat at their opportunism. While some have condemned the piece as anti-semitic, however, I didn't think it was. Although there are moments that tread a fine line. In their early days we see them as devout mourners after a family death. Later on they mourn for a brisk three minutes. Appearances of trading as usual come first. Is this assimilation or self-interest? The jury is split. Although there is no avoiding that maybe opening during current events in the Middle East is not the best timing. 

 

The production is no straight drama. Events take place in a huge, sometimes rotating, glass box (designed by Es Devlin). The actors narrate as well as speak dialogue and the piano accompaniment by Cat Beveridge adding shifts in mood and emotion is almost like a fourth cast member. A backdrop of videos by Luke Halls portrays the changing skyline of Manhattan or burning crop fields of Alabama. 

 

At the start i wondered if this was going to be a long evening. Yet the end felt strangely rushed. i expected a lot more to be set 2008 but that momentous year was almost a minor dying fall after what has gone before. I'd almost dare to say it needed another thirty minutes covering recent events rather than just a parade of extras coming on and packing their boxes.

 

The financial world is clearly a good place to set a drama. Look at Industry currently on the BBC or look at Hollywood. There are echoes of Michael Douglas in Wall Street in some of the grandstanding speeches here about the power of money. If there hasn't been a movie made of this story there certainly will be at some point, i'm sure. 

 

You wouldn't expect to have sympathy for something where the pursuit of profit is paramount. It's a high wire act, but somehow, largely through the performances, The Lehman Trilogy pulls this off. I expected drama, I didn't expect heart. It's business, but it's also personal.