• Flexibility, Abstraction, Orthodoxy:The Lehman Trilogy and (the) British Capital
• Alex Ferrone (bio)

On March 12, 2020, crisis struck Broadway. In response to the worsening COVID-19 pandemic, then–New York governor Andrew Cuomo banned all public gatherings of more than five hundred people, effectively shuttering all Broadway theatres (only for a month, per the initial projection, but the theatres would be dark for a year and a half). That same day, Michael Paulson of the New York Times opined that "Broadway—central to, and symbolic of, New York—is not only the pinnacle of the American theater world, but is also big business," and he predicted the shutdown would "cost tens of millions of dollars for investors and artists and associated businesses, and will likely trigger the collapse of some plays and musicals that will be unable to survive the delays and losses."¹ The persisting economic crisis precipitated by the global pandemic bears remarkable similarities to the 2007–8 financial crisis, whose aftershocks have continued to reverberate in the legacy of austerity measures and reduced public spending, a centerpiece of Conservative fiscal policy in the United Kingdom since the Cameron administration.² Both events have revealed, with appalling clarity, the gulf between rich and poor: while the middle and working classes have faced increased job precarity, food insecurity, inequitable access to healthcare, and a staggering decline in private wealth, the financial elite have managed to get on perfectly well (in many cases, accruing wealth at a rate even faster than usual).³ In many ways, this chasm—a product, or indeed perhaps an objective, of the capitalist status quo—is precisely what is at stake in one particular Broadway show, imported from London, that was forced to close two weeks before its scheduled opening. [End Page 67]

The Lehman Trilogy (2018), fresh from sold-out runs in the West End and Off-Broadway, appears, on paper, to be thoroughly British fare.⁴ The collaboration of an impressive team of British theatre heavyweights—directed by Sam Mendes, translated into English by Ben Power, designed by Es Devlin, and starring a trio of acclaimed English actors, Simon Russell Beale, Ben Miles, and Adam Godley—the premiere production at London's National Theatre earned near-unanimous praise.⁵ But there is very little of Britain in the play itself. Documenting the 164-year-long story of Lehman Brothers, one of the largest investment banks in the United States—from its origins as a fabric shop in 1940s Alabama to its catastrophic collapse in 2008—The Lehman Trilogy carves two parallel narrative paths: first, the story of three generations of the Lehman family, Jewish immigrants from Bavaria who become increasingly deracinated from their cultural identity and traditions as they assimilate into American life; and second, the story of a mounting capitalist orthodoxy that fundamentally transforms commerce, trade, and social life itself. After all, argues scholar Mario Barenghi, "the story of the Lehman family is also a considerable piece of the history of US capitalism, from early dawn to triumph, from crisis to recovery, from vertiginous expansion to its ultimate collapse."⁶

The play's arrival in London followed a lengthy, transnational production history on the European continent. Written by Italian playwright Stefano Massini, the play was workshopped first under the title I capitoli del crollo [Chapters of the Collapse] and aired as a radio play on Rai Radio 3, one of Italy's state-owned public radio stations, in November 2012. Its official theatrical premiere, however, was a French production, Chapitres de la chute, translated by Pietro Pizzuti and performed in Paris at the Théâtre du Rond-Point in 2013. It would receive its Italian premiere two years later, as Lehman Trilogy (without the definitive article), at the Piccolo Teatro in Milan in a production by acclaimed director Luca Ronconi, his final show before his death in February 2015, just three weeks into the run. The production would be remounted at the Piccolo two years later, due to popular demand.⁷ By the time The Lehman Trilogy's English-language premiere opened in London in 2018, Massini's play had already received productions in fourteen countries across continental Europe.⁸ [End...

• 灵活性、抽象、正统：雷曼三部曲和（the）英国首都
• 亚历克斯·费罗内（生物）

2020 年 3 月 12 日，危机袭击了百老汇。为了应对日益恶化的 COVID-19 大流行，当时的纽约州州长安德鲁·库莫禁止了所有超过 500 人的公共集会，实际上关闭了所有百老汇剧院（根据最初的预测，只有一个月，但剧院会很黑一年半）。同一天，《纽约时报》的迈克尔·保尔森认为，“百老汇——纽约的中心和象征——不仅是美国戏剧界的顶峰，而且还是一门大生意，”他预测关闭将“这给投资者、艺术家和相关企业带来了数千万美元的损失，并可能引发一些无法在延误和损失中幸存下来的戏剧和音乐剧的倒闭。” ¹全球大流行引发的持续经济危机与 2007-8 年金融危机有显着相似之处，其余震继续在紧缩措施和公共支出减少的遗产中回荡，这是自卡梅伦执政以来英国保守财政政策的核心行政。²这两件事都以惊人的清晰度揭示了贫富之间的鸿沟：中产阶级和工人阶级面临着越来越多的工作不稳定、粮食不安全、医疗保健的不公平以及私人财富的惊人下降，而金融精英们却成功应对了过得很好（在很多情况下，财富积累的速度甚至比平时更快）。³在许多方面，这种鸿沟——资本主义现状的产物，或者甚至可能是一个目标——正是从伦敦进口的一个特定的百老汇演出的利害攸关之处，该演出在预定开幕前两周被迫关闭。[结束第 67 页]

雷曼兄弟三部曲（2018 年）刚从西区和外百老汇售罄的演出中脱颖而出，从纸面上看，它完全是英国的票价。⁴令人印象深刻的英国戏剧界重量级团队的合作——由 Sam Mendes 执导，由 Ben Power 翻译成英文，由 Es Devlin 设计，由著名的英国演员 Simon Russell Beale、Ben Miles 和 Adam Godley 三人主演——在伦敦国家剧院的首演获得了几乎一致的好评。⁵但这部剧本身很少有英国。记录美国最大的投资银行之一雷曼兄弟长达 164 年的故事——从 1940 年代阿拉巴马州的一家面料店起源到 2008年的灾难性倒闭——雷曼兄弟三部曲开辟了两条平行的叙事路径：第一，雷曼家族的三代人的故事，来自巴伐利亚的犹太移民随着他们融入美国生活而越来越远离自己的文化身份和传统；其次，资本主义正统观念的兴起从根本上改变了商业、贸易和社会生活本身。毕竟，学者马里奥·巴伦吉（Mario Barenghi）认为，“雷曼家族的故事也是美国资本主义历史的重要组成部分，从黎明到胜利，从危机到复苏，从令人眩晕的扩张到最终崩溃。” ⁶

该剧在伦敦的到来是在欧洲大陆漫长的跨国制作历史之后出现的。该剧由意大利剧作家斯特凡诺·马西尼 (Stefano Massini) 创作，最初以I capitoli del crolo [崩溃的章节] 为题进行创作，并于 2012 年 11 月在意大利国有公共广播电台之一的 Rai Radio 3 作为广播剧播出。然而，它的官方剧场首映是法国制作的Chapitres de la chute，由 Pietro Pizzuti 翻译，并于 2013 年在巴黎的 Théâtre du Rond-Point 演出。两年后，它将作为雷曼三部曲在意大利首映（没有最终文章），在米兰的 Piccolo Teatro 由著名导演 Luca Roconi 制作，这是他在 2015 年 2 月去世前的最后一场演出，距离演出仅三周。两年后，由于大众需求，该产品将在 Piccolo 重新上架。⁷到2018 年雷曼三部曲的英文首映式在伦敦开幕时，马西尼的剧本已经在欧洲大陆的 14 个国家上映。⁸ 【结束...