John Lennon’s relationship with his mother Julia has become part of Beatles mythology. We know that she encouraged his love of music, taught him to play the banjo, bought him his first guitar and, most poignantly, that her sudden death in 1958 left an emotional wound that would remain with Lennon throughout his life. Yet Julia Lennon herself has too often been reduced to a supporting character in somebody else’s story. Julia’s Song sets out to put that right.
Written and directed by Sylvia Hall, the play begins on a summer’s evening in 1958, the evening Julia was knocked down and killed by an off-duty police officer. Then the first original song takes us back to 1929 and her meeting with John’s future father, Freddie Lennon. From there, the production follows Julia through the changing world of the 1930s and the upheaval of the Second World War. Her complicated personal life, romances and controversies are explored alongside her infectious sense of fun and love of music.
Alison Crawford, in the lead role, is outstanding. Always dressed flamboyantly for the times, colourful dresses, red shoes, red handbag and red lipstick, she is able to convey the emotions Julia must have felt when making the impossible choices she faced. Those choices had consequences, particularly for those around her, and the tensions within her family provide some of the evening’s most affecting moments.
Florence King as Julia’s sister Mimi Smith is just as impressive, playing the strait-laced, buttoned-up, sensible older sister. Julia’s Song explores the contrast between the two women particularly effectively.
We get to see two John Lennons, first as a six-year-old and then as a teenager. Arian Perry, sporting a Lennon hairstyle, plays the younger version whom his father, played by Luke Seddon, takes to Blackpool under the guise of a holiday, though he secretly plans to emigrate to New Zealand with him.
Music, naturally, runs throughout the production. Five original songs written by Tom McConnell in collaboration with Hall, and one by Peter Davies help move the story across the decades while reflecting Julia’s personality and the importance music played in her relationship with John. Rather than simply using familiar Beatles songs as an easy route to nostalgia, the decision to employ original material helps the production maintain its own identity. I might be wrong, but I’m sure at least a couple of future Beatles lyrics are referenced in the script.
The soundtrack is played live by a band featuring Georgie Weston (Paul McCartney), Ed Haslam (Colin Hanton), Alan Meuller (Pete Shotton) and Jordan Quinn (Rod Davis), who together form The Quarrymen. The first stirrings of the Beatles gradually enter the story, but Hall wisely resists allowing them to overwhelm it. We know what John Lennon is going to become; Julia does not. That knowledge gives the later scenes an added poignancy.
Teenage John, played superbly by Adam James Johnson, gets to join them as they belt out ‘Be-Bop-A-Lula’ and ‘That’ll Be the Day’. John’s family story is essential because his unconventional childhood cannot really be understood without it. Julia’s father, Pop (Christopher Lee-Power), although supportive of his daughter at first, represents the social norms of the time and almost washes his hands of her, while Bobby Dykins (Leslie Longley) provides stability for Julia, something her husband never could.
What emerges is a portrait of a woman considerably more complex than the labels that have been attached to her. Julia is vivacious, impulsive, rebellious and sometimes infuriating, but also warm, funny and intensely musical. Crucially, the production does not attempt to turn her into a saint.
Inevitably, the shadow of tragedy hangs over proceedings. Julia was only 44 when she was struck and killed by a car in July 1958, just as her relationship with John had become close again and his musical ambitions were beginning to take shape.
The temptation with any drama connected to the Beatles is to view everyone through the prism of what came afterwards. Julia’s Song works best when it does precisely the opposite. It asks us to forget, temporarily at least, the global icon John Lennon would become and instead see a teenage boy reconnecting with the mother who shared his mischievousness, rebelliousness and love of music.
Warm, funny and ultimately deeply moving, Julia’s Song succeeds in giving Julia Lennon something history has not always afforded her: the opportunity to step out of her famous son’s shadow and take centre stage in her own story. And, more than sixty years after John Lennon became one of Liverpool’s most famous sons, it reminds us that before there was John the Beatle, there was John the boy – and there was Julia.
Julia’s Song ran for three nights only and no other performances have been announced.
Reviewer: Adrian Cork
On: 11/09/2026
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