Please Please Me Cinema Season
It is impossible to estimate the seismic effect The Beatles had on popular culture, to the extent one could argue they brought pop culture into existence.
To complement our theatre production of Please Please Me – looking at the Beatles’ manager, Brian Epstein – we present four portraits of The Beatles and their times. From the phenomenon of Beatlemania in I Wanna Hold Your Hand, to the world of ’60s gay life in Prick Up Your Ears, to a modern reimagining of The Beatles songbook in Across the Universe to the Fab Four in the flesh themselves in A Hard Day’s Night, this season shows the life and times of The Beatles from every angle.
A Hard Day's Night
22 - 25 April
At the crest of the first wave of Beatlemania, the Fab Four made their jump to the big screen in this ambitious, cheeringly kooky visual album. Rather than the ephemeral cash in it could have been, A Hard Day’s Night set a template for the joyful and unpredictable possibilities of pop on film.
I Wanna Hold Your Hand
29 April - 2 May
It’s 1964 and The Beatles are about to take centre stage on their iconic Ed Sullivan Show appearance. A group of young girls hatch a plan: bust into their hotel via limousine, then gain tickets to the show and their undying love. Simple? This madcap trip through New York has plenty of joyfully silly moments that come when you’re young and in love (with a pop star).
Across the Universe
9 May
This reimagination of The Beatles’ songbook follows Middle American dreamer Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood) and Liverpool welder Jude (Jim Sturgess), who meet on the streets of ‘60s New York. Their psychedelic wild rides fade away as the Vietnam war looms large for them and their circle. Can love last? Or is it Hello Goodbye?
Prick Up Your Ears
15 - 16 May
Based on the true story that shook the sixties, Prick Up Your Ears follow upstart playwright Joe Orton (Oldman), who is tearing a swathe through ‘60s London, with his partner Kenneth Halliwell (Molina) in tow. Commissioned by Brian Epstein to write a biopic of The Beatles, his success hides a dark shadow as Halliwell’s jealousy and mental health spiral. Prick Up Your Ears was selected by Please Please Me writer Tom Wright as a parallel story of a successful gay man whose life was also cut short. Yet where Brian Epstein’s life was closeted, Prick Up Your Ears is unabashed and unashamed.