New Beatles play Two Of Us explores John and Paul's final meeting
In 2000, Beatles nut Mark Stanfield achieved the rare feat of releasing a genuinely good Beatles film. He’s the writer behind Two Of Us, an imaginative exercise that dramatised the legendary night, in 1976, when Paul McCartney visited his formerly estranged pal John Lennon at the latter’s apartment in New York. Directed by Let It Be filmmaker Michael Lindsay-Hogg, it’s become a cult favourite among those in the know.
Now a professor at the University Of Minnesota, Stanfield has reworked the film into a new play starring Barry Sloane (Shameless) as John and Jay Johnson (who played John’s cousin Stan Parkes in biopic Nowhere Boy) as Macca. Partly inspired by the 1981 movie My Dinner With Andre, it gives fascinating insight for Fabs fans, as well as a thought-provoking drama that explores universal ideas about fractured relationships, regret and reconciliation. No: he doesn’t fancy doing one for the Gallagher brothers.
Hi Mark! Of all the Beatles periods, why did you focus on this one in particular?
Mark Stanfield: “Back in the ‘90s, I had seen an interview that Paul did on the Charlie Rose show. I couldn’t help but notice that when they brought up the subject of John, his whole face – his tone of voice, everything – changed. I remember thinking: ‘Wow, that’s underneath all the showbiz, thumbs-up Macca and all that stuff. He’s really sad; he’s really lost someone dear to him.’ I thought: ‘There’s something there.’”
Source: Jordan Bassett/nme.com
