Lennon and Epstein relationship explored in new play

The relationship between John Lennon and Beatles manager Brian Epstein is explored in a new play being staged in Liverpool to coincide with International Beatle Week next month.

Of All These Friends and Lovers is at the Hope Street Theatre between August 25-29.

The show comes from the city’s Old Fruit Jar Productions whose previous acclaimed productions include The Incident Room and It’s a Wonderful Life and is presented in association with the Hope Street Theatre.

It is written and directed by Old Fruit Jar Productions’ artistic director Alex King.

Set in 1964, the year Beatlemania erupted in the United States, the play is described as ‘a speculative piece’ which explores the relationship between Beatle and manager and ‘the impact of global fame at the exact moment modern celebrity culture was born.’

It explores themes of fame and identity, power, loyalty, loneliness, mental health, masculinity and sexuality with its writer drawing on historical accounts, biographies and first-hand interviews to create the imagined story.

King points out that historians and biographers have long noted the intensity and complexity of Lennon and Epstein’s relationship, with Lennon himself describing it in a 1980 Playboy interview as: ‘Almost a love affair… but not quite…’

And it has also fascinated creatives. In 1992, the film The Hours and Times – starring a young Ian Hart as Lennon – offered a fictionalised account of what might have happened during a real holiday the two men took to Spain together in 1963, while a play staged earlier this year at London’s Kiln Theatre, titled Please Please Me, also explored Epstein’s hidden emotional struggles.

King explains: “The Beatles remain one of the most recognisable cultural phenomena in the world.

“But beneath the myth and away from the screaming lies a deeply human story: two men navigating their place in a new world; confronting power, vulnerability, identity, and the unbearable pressure of living under constant observation.

“The play speaks urgently to contemporary conversations around mental health, masculinity, and sexuality. Brian Epstein lived at a time when homosexuality was illegal in Britain. His success depended on carefully controlling public narratives — including concealing his own life. In a climate where society continues to wrestle with visibility, identity, and public scrutiny, this story feels strikingly contemporary.

“By placing two iconic figures alone in a room at the height of their fame, the play asks a simple but powerful question: what happens when the noise stops, and the truth finally has space to speak?”

Jordan Barkley plays John Lennon and Joseph Winder is Brian Epstein, while the play is being supported by Liverpool Beatles Museum in Mathew Street and by Lennon’s friend Helen Anderson who has lent the company a replica of his famous leather cap.

Of All These Friends and Lovers is at the Hope Street Theatre from August 25-29 with both evening and daytime shows from August 26-29. Tickets HERE