The lost play John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote together before The Beatles
John Lennon and Paul McCartney certainly made their mark. Together, The Beatles songwriting duo redefined the meaning of pop, bending the genre into new and increasingly strange shapes until the band’s demise in 1970. Responsible for penning some of the most influential and enduring songs in the history of recorded music, they were clearly two incredibly creative minds. And yet, it always comes as a surprise to learn that they had artistic interests outside of music.
During his interview on BBC Radio 4’s This Cultural Life, Paul McCartney spoke to presenter John Wilson about his life with The Beatles, how his mother’s death influenced a selection of his greatest songs and some of the things he would have done had he not decided to become a musician. Music was always there, of course. Some of Paul’s earliest memories are of gathering around the piano to sing with his mother. “One of my great memories is hearing Mum in the kitchen, whistling,” he said. “I thought, ‘It’s great. Mum’s happy.’”
McCartney’s mother was a nurse and dreamed that Paul would follow in her footsteps to train as a doctor. “That was her legacy… realising that it’s a good thing to care for people,” he said. “She was very aspirational. She wanted us to do well. Being a nurse, she wanted us to be doctors, me and my brother.” However, Paul had other ideas. At school, he developed an appreciation for language and literature. This love of words led Paul into the realm of theatre, Shakespeare, to be specific. “I did Hamlet and Henry V,” he explained. “At one point, I was thinking I’d love to direct a couple of plays. Hamlet was one. I’d be hopeless!”
Soon enough, Paul had decided to write a play of his own, for which he hired the talents of John Lennon. “This was before The Beatles,” McCartney revealed. “We were just hanging out, writing our early songs. We started this play,” which McCartney had completely forgotten about until he came across it in his attic.
“I thought that was lost. It’s quite a funny little thing. It’s called Pilchard and it’s about the Messiah. It was in the era of the kitchen sink [drama]. The idea was the mother and the daughter are in the kitchen area… and they’re just talking. The mother says, ‘Where’s Pilchard?’ And the daughter says, ‘He’s upstairs again’… The idea was the whole story would go on and on and it was the Messiah, and that’s why he never came down.”
Pilchard has yet to be performed. They only finished four pages.
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