It was precisely 6:47 when the usher informed us that we were on the wrong side of the river for our show at 7:00. We were seeing The Lehman Brothers Trilogy by The National Theater, only it wasn’t at The National Theater, it was at the Gyllian Lyle Theater in Soho. 40 min away by Uber. 23 min away on foot.
$&^%!!!
Our hearts sank. But for only about two seconds! Because before the ticket-taker had enough time to pity my American mistake, we were sprinting across the Waterloo bridge* to Soho. We had 12 minutes to get to our critically acclaimed take down of the banking system or die trying!
As we were running and dodging people, I was trying to remember which songs had planted in my mind the dream of running around Soho in the rain; The 1975? Rolling Stones? All of them? All I could think of was Werewolves of London… but it didn’t matter, we were doing it! We had gotten to know the city well enough by now to move swiftly and there was something about it that made me feel like we had crossed a threshold in our relationship with London. Running around Soho in the rain to see a play.
We made it to the theater at exactly 7:00 and were in our seats for curtain. I’ve never been prouder of us.
It was worth it. Sam Mendes’ play was absolutely brilliant. It’s a telling of the lives of the original Lehman Brothers and their descendants. It may also be the story of the greatest grift in American History; the invention of the middleman. The Lehman’s and their descendants built their business off the back of slavery and then used tragedies in American history to profit in different ways. Right up until they broke it in 2008 and left us with the price of fixing it. All so the next people could take their place. If that sounds too harsh towards bankers, you’re not paying enough attention.
But The Lehman Brothers Trilogy is also a complicated immigrant story about a family that came to a land of promise and freedom, full of faith and tradition. And while they robbed America via capitalism, I think capitalism robbed them too.
The show was put on by three actors, all of which were brilliant. Especially two of them. I kept thinking it would be an amazing show to direct one day. I’m glad shows like this exist and hope to make stories like it.
Earlier we had some tasty sausage and peppers pizza and a goat cheese salad on the river. It was one of the places that in the states would be a sort of cool looking place with a great location but have terrible food and service because it’s a tourist trap. But here, those places don’t really seem to exist. The river view was gorgeous and the food and service were great. Plus the company wasn’t bad at all.
*The Waterloo bridge is my favorite bridge I’ve decided. It was built by the women of London while the men were away at war. Our tour guide on our BOAT RIDE informed us that it was the only bridge on the Thames delivered on time and under budget. Besides that awesome backstory, it’s incredibly efficient and functional to both traffic and pedestrians. Plus, the stone they made the bridge out of clean themselves! Tonight, it was our bridge.