John Lennon and Paul McCartney Almost Broke Into Theater With an Unfinished Play

John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote many classic rock songs together. Before Lennon and McCartney formed The Beatles, the two almost began a career in theater. However, their play remained unfinished as their music careers skyrocketed. 

Paul McCartney loves the work of William Shakespeare

While McCartney is a British music legend, William Shakespeare is a legend of the theater, writing dozens of iconic plays still performed today. Growing up, McCartney took a few Shakespeare courses in school and developed a love for his plays, especially Hamlet. According to Yahoo! Life, in his 2021 book The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present, McCartney discussed “Let it Be” and said some of the lyrics came from Hamlet. 

“One interesting thing about ‘Let It Be’ that I was reminded of only recently is that, while I was studying English literature at the Liverpool Institute High School for Boys with my favorite teacher, Alan Durband, I read Hamlet,” McCartney shared. “In those days you had to learn speeches by heart because you had to be able to carry them into the exam and quote them. There are a couple of lines from late in the play: ‘O, I could tell you — But let it be. Horatio, I am dead.’ “I suspect those lines had subconsciously planted themselves in my memory.”

In a 2021 BBC interview, Paul again mentioned his love for Shakespeare, saying, “At one point, I was thinking I’d love to direct a couple of plays. Hamlet was one. I’d be hopeless!”

Paul McCartney and John Lennon worked together on an unfinished play

John Lennon and Paul McCartney were long-time collaborators until The Beatles broke up. One thing they worked on before the band’s formation was a play called Pilchard. McCartney says he completely forgot about it until he found a draft of it in his house. 

“We were just hanging out, writing our early songs. We started this play,” McCartney recalled to the BBC. “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.”

The play was in its early stages as the duo only finished four pages. It would have been interesting to see what McCartney and Lennon could have brought to the theater community in addition to their music. 

McCartney still imagines talking to Lennon when songwriting

John Lennon and Paul McCartney worked on hundreds of songs together, including “Can’t Buy Me Love,” “She Loves You,” and “Eleanor Rigby.” Lennon was assassinated in 1980, but McCartney explained to the BBC that he sometimes imagines what Lennon’s advice would be for certain songs. 

“Occasionally, I will refer to him and think, ‘Wait a minute, is this any good?’” McCartney said. “Everyone who’s writing always stops and thinks, ‘Oh god, this is terrible’… It’s part of the creative process. So, if I’m at that moment… I’ll go, ‘What would John think of this?’ and sort of imagine playing it to him. And he’ll say ‘Great, carry on’, or ‘It’s rubbish, fix it.’”