Review: PLEASE PLEASE ME, Kiln Theatre

Photo credit: Mark Senior

The soundtrack as we arrived into the Kiln’s welcoming auditorium was a great reminder of popular music in the days before the Beatles, at least for those of us who were there. That seemed to be the case for many of the audience and this play has certainly brought the pop fans of the sixties out of retirement. Tom Wright’s play, however, features only one Beatle and none of their music, and the focus is on the almost forgotten figure of Brian Epstein.

Not forgotten by the original fans of course, who immediately spotted the NEMS logo high above the stage, NEMS being the company set up by Epstein to manage his stable of pop acts. With the play beginning with Epstein’s father in the family record store, the source of the acronym was revealed: the North End Music Stores. Epstein was from a middle class family in Liverpool and grew up in an orthodox Jewish family. He was also a closeted gay at a time when homosexuality was illegal, and encounters with the police made this known to his family. Having failed at acting, he was working in the family furniture store when he saw the Beatles for the first time.

As Wright’s play shows, the genius of Epstein’s management of the Beatles was in taking them away from their leather-clad Hamburg years and turning them into clean-cut family entertainers. It was a move destined to meet resistance from them at some stage, and perhaps that would have always been most likely from John Lennon, the most anti-establishment of the quartet.

The play focuses on Epstein’s years of managing the Beatles, from 1961 to 1967, and in particular a Spanish holiday with John Lennon which might have included a sexual relationship. As some of us will remember, it was a time of great change although this wasn’t always clear at the time; we don’t think anyone in the 1960s said with such clarity “It’s the 1960s!” to explain everything, as happens at one point in the play. The dialogue is the least effective part of the play, and Noah Ritter’s carefully detailed and sensitive depiction of John Lennon is held back by some clunky lines and a surprising lack of John’s distinctive accent.

Clearly, however, the aim is not impression but dramatic interest, and that is added by Amit Sharma’s inventive and exuberant direction, making good use of Tom Piper’s set with its symbolic net curtains hiding activities from the world, and a series of wardrobes (closets perhaps) from which characters appear. The clever approach taken to the script maintains interest and allows a focus on the central character of Epstein. Calam Lynch gives a fine performance as the troubled impresario, tracing with care his trajectory from young but flawed hopeful to the drug-addicted seeker for masochistic sex that he became before his early death. A remarkable portrayal.

Also impressive are William Robinson and Arthur Wilson as three characters each (with Wilson’s convincing business partner Geoffrey particularly key to the story). It is a mark of their achievement that it comes as a surprise when only five performers line up for the curtain call.

The other performer, and the only woman in the cast, is the always impressive Eleanor Worthington-Cox. Given the impossible task of playing three well-known characters in Beatles lore, she manages to switch in seconds between a stern Aunt Mimi, a needy Cynthia and a remarkably controlled and serious Cilla. It is in the latter role that she gets to sing the only music from that period to be heard in the play, and it should not be seen as a criticism to say that the problem is that she sings the song much more effectively than the original performer did, and with none of the familiar nasal segments. Her scenes with Epstein are the kernel of the play and beautifully performed by both actors.

Despite some reservations, this is a fascinating portrayal of a life that burned bright and then was extinguished while those around him went on to ever greater things. Worth catching, whether you were there or have just heard about it all from your grandparents.

*** Three stars

Reviewed by: Chris Abbott

Please Please Me runs at London’s Kiln Theatre until 29 May, with further info here.