The Lehman Trilogy 2023
The Lehman Trilogy returns to London with a curved video backdrop from Universal Pixels; the latest and highest resolution LED screen currently in the West End.
The production, adapted by Ben Power from Stefano Massini’s original play, is directed by Academy, Tony and Golden Globe winner, Sam Mendes.
The Lehman Trilogy tells the story of how the three Lehman brothers - played by Michael Balogun, Nigel Lindsay and Hadly Fraser - set sail across the Atlantic before revolutionising America’s banking industry in the mid 1800’s.
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc, a global financial services firm filed for bankruptcy in 2008, and turned the world’s financial system into chaos.
The actors star as the brothers, their sons and their grandsons in three parts over the course of a single production, in what has become one of theatre's most intricate performed stage feats.
With a masterful set conceptualised by Artist Es Devlin, theatre audiences are drawn into a minimalist glass and revolving box design, where Video Designer Luke Halls’ powerful content takes the viewer on a journey from the deep south to the gritty streets of New York City.
In 2019, the show’s run at Piccadilly Theatre ruled out projection due to the venue’s size constraints. Halls looked to the option of LED, and contacted Universal Pixels co-founder and Theatre specialist Oliver Luff, who offered technical advice and reassurances that a viable LED solution was possible.
Despite a venue change to the Gillian Lynne Theatre this year, the technical specification remained much the same; a main & backup disguise Solo media server rack, and a screen constructed using 168sqm of Leyard CF0 3.9mm panels set into a custom curved structure. The exact 4.1-degree angle of the screen was fundamental to maximising the screen size in the available space.
Luff comments: “A major challenge was the bespoke curved brackets which had to be adapted to fit the venue’s available space. Other LED products are fixed to predetermined angles, but with the combination of the Leyard screen and our custom engineering department we were able to give the production exactly what was needed.
“Getting the screen right was critical, as it's the backdrop of the entire show. Using the Leyard screen was the only way to deliver such a large LED solution with the necessary resolution in the classic weight restricted venues of the West End. At just 22kg per sqm, the Leyard 3.9mm really is a game changer, making high resolution LED in a large format truly accessible to theatre. The whole screen still came in at nearly six tonnes as it was a whopping 28m wide and 6m high, making it the largest single continuous screen ever installed into a West End Show.”
The Lehman Trilogy will run until May 20th 2023.