The Lehman Trilogy, National Theatre

The Lehman Trilogy is an epic story of making it and breaking it, charting one family's fortunes over 163 years and tracing the financial sector from boom to bust. A powerhouse of talents come together to bring the play to London.

After seeing Stefano Massini's show in Milan, prolific director Sam Mendes approached the National Theatre to stage the UK premiere. Fresh from a superlative production of The Ferryman, the former head of the Donmar Warehouse turned James Bond director will lead an English language adaptation. The Lehman Trilogy opens on the Lyttleton stage this July in co-production with Mendes' own theatre and film company Neal Street Productions.

Ben Power adapts a story that spans a 19th century Bavarian immigrant finding his fortune right up to the 2008 Wall Street Crash. We begin in 1844, when Henry Lehman arrives in New York City, ahead of his brothers Emanuel and Mayer. From selling dry goods in Alabama to trading multi-million dollar bonds Manhattan, the Lehmans build an empire. Then the American Dream implodes and Lehman Brothers investment bank collapses, triggering the largest financial crisis in history.

Like The Godfather or Hamilton, it's a story of immigrants arriving, thriving and faltering against a backdrop that spans the Civil War, the Great Depression, right up to the contemporary corporate finance world. But there's also a touch of Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan novels in the intimate, synoptic study of one family.

This real life drama plays out with poetic intensity in a single play split into three parts. And a trio of talents have been confirmed to play the brothers.

Seasoned stage actor Simon Russell Beale will be reunited with long-term collaborater and self-described 'professional soulmate' Sam Mendes after 2014's King Lear (National Theatre). He stars alongside Adam Godley (Breaking Bad, Suits) and Ben Miles (Consent, National Theatre 2017; Apple Tree Yard, BBC).

First they will play Henry, Emmanuel and Mayer Lehman. Then, in the second part of the play they will play the original Lehman's brothers' sons. For the third and final part of the play, the Russell Beal, Godley and Miles will play the third generation of Lehmans.

The epic story and the hive of talents bringing it to London make it likely that The Lehman Trilogy will be one of the must-see shows of 2018.