Interview by Heather Kincaid

It's an old saying that a person's life flashes in front of their eyes in the moments just before they die. Perhaps we all have an idea of the scenes we might remember from our own lives if it proves true, but what might we discover if we could see inside another person's head in that final split-second of consciousness? Beginning with the gunshot that would take John Lennon from the world, John Waters' Lennon: Through a Glass Onion attempts to do just that, offering audiences perhaps the most intimate window onto the man behind the music that any stage or screen production has so far managed. 

Over the course of an intense hour and a half, Daniel Taylor takes on the monumental task of bringing Lennon back to life in what is anything but a conventional stage musical. Armed with just a guitar, Lennon's trademark glasses, and an accompanying pianist for support, Taylor runs through a total of 31 different songs, in between reeling off anecdotes and insights told from the perspective of the man himself. 

“It's almost like having his ghost on stage, telling his story like he's living it,” says Taylor. “It's brutally honest. The title obviously comes from one of the songs on The White Album, but the glass onion is also like a magnifying glass, so we're looking at John Lennon under a microscope.”

Taylor takes over the title role from creator John Waters, who has already performed the show in theatres around the world, earning critical acclaim and even receiving the personal blessing of Yoko Ono. But with a new star comes a new approach to the part, and in Taylor's case, this means getting even more up close and personal with his audience. 

“There's definitely a different dynamic. John had more of what we call a fourth wall approach – he very much plays it as if the audience aren't really there, and he's just kind of speaking his thoughts aloud, almost like an internal monologue. I want to play him as someone who's more upfront with people and who speaks directly to the audience,” Taylor explains. 

Keeping your cool throughout any sort of solo show can be tough – in a set-up like this, there's nowhere to hide and no one to help you or cue you if things go wrong. How much more of a challenge must it be, then, knowing members of your audience can compare your performance to their memories of the real man you're attempting to portray? 

“People keep asking me whether it phases me, but to be honest, I can only do the best that I can do. I've done the work, learned the lines and I know that I can play him. I don't mean that in an arrogant way – that's the feedback we've had from audiences. A lot of people have said they find it quite eerie. There are people who've been to see the show who knew him, and they've said they felt like he was back in the room.”

Among those Taylor has had the opportunity to meet is an old friend of Lennon's who (rather conveniently!) worked for the drug squad. Though he's yet to speak directly to Yoko Ono, he hopes to one day have the chance to do so. 

“I haven't met her, but I know that she's aware of me because I was mentioned in a conversation the other week. I'd love her to see it – I'm hoping that when we're in the States she might be able to make it, but all these people are quite busy.”

While both Waters and Taylor have had to grow accustomed to being the only actor  in a full-length play, it's worth remembering that they're not the only ones involved in realising the production. Through a Glass Onion may be unfussy as far as set and design are concerned, but as with any show, there are several other elements to consider. 

“We've got Stewart d’Arrietta on piano who, I might add, is a force of nature! He's a real energy on stage. The lighting is really striking too – I've never come across a show where it's so simplistic, but it just really catches you. There are points where they sort of light it from the side so it's like my head is floating. It really makes you realise that it's not so much what you light as what you don't light.”

It also perhaps helps that this isn't Taylor's first experience of playing John Lennon in a theatrical context – though the production he was previously involved in was a very different sort of show. 

“I did a play called One Bad Thing which was written by a mate of mine, Ian Carroll, which is basically about the man that killed him and whether he was brainwashed by the CIA to do it. There's no doubt that Lennon was a problem for the American government while he was there – apart from anything else, he was a Beatle, so he was someone that people listened to. He was very ahead of his time – that's no disrespect to the people who grew up in that period, but I think his brain just worked differently and a lot of people were afraid of that.”

One Bad Thing and Through a Glass Onion are far from the only shows to deal with this subject: in the years since Lennon was fatally shot, his life and death have been explored from both factual and fictionalised angles in countless plays, films and TV programmes. Attracting attention in such a saturated market isn't easy, but there's something quite unique about the experience this show offers that has managed to capture the imaginations of its viewers. 

“I can't say whether it stands out from all of the others because I've not seen them all, but I will say this is very, very raw, like getting to meet John Lennon in your living room, and if you're intrigued by The Beatles – not just John Lennon as a songwriter but as a person and as a revolutionary – then it's probably the best you can get.”

As a Liverpudlian musician himself, Taylor was acutely aware of The Beatles' influence long before attempting to capture one of them on stage. Nevertheless, being part of Through a Glass Onion has given him a lot of time to reflect on Lennon's character, delving into his life to discover new things, as well as to better understand the more familiar stories. 

“I like him a lot more now, but he also frustrates me more. The more I find out about him, the more I realise just how many different aspects there were to this person. I think he's quite a tragic figure, and a lot of people react very strongly to tragedy. You've always got to look at why people end up the way they do, and I think what really galvanised the relationship between Paul McCartney and John Lennon was the fact that they'd both lost parents in one way or another. Otherwise, I don't think you'd naturally put them in a room together. They were two completely different personalities, but their experiences gave them both tremendous drive and creativity.”

Those booking for the Belgrade showings towards the end of October might have also caught Taylor's recent performance in The Tommy Cooper Show at the Albany Theatre, which is currently touring alongside Through a Glass Onion. While it's hard to imagine two more different personalities than John Lennon and Tommy Cooper, there are obvious similarities in the format of the shows. Could Taylor be developing a knack for portraying iconic, real-life figures in small-scale stage productions? 

“I just wanted a job!” he laughs. “Tommy Cooper came about after I'd been doing another job for my friend Ian Carroll, who I mentioned earlier. We were in a pub one night when he asked me what I wanted to do next, and I suggested doing a show about Tommy Cooper. Two weeks later he put a draft through my door. Ian's one of the few people I know who will actually do whatever he says he's going to do, even after six pints of lager!”

“Since then we've added bits and gone through different dynamics,” he added. “The show is two and a half years old now, and we're on our second director, but it's built up quite a reputation. Like the John Lennon show has Yoko Ono's blessing, this has the blessing of his estate. The aim is the same – to bring him back to life and to celebrate who he was and what he did.”

Lennon: Through a Glass Onion shows at Stafford Gatehouse Theatre on Wed 5 October and Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, on Friday 21 & Saturday 22 October