Someone Has Got to Be John
★★★★☆ Urgent
theSpaceTriplex (Venue 38): Mon 11 – Sat 23 Aug 2025
Review by Orna Clarke
Playing at Studio at theSpaceTriplex for the final two weeks of the Fringe, Someone Has Got to Be John is a scathing critique of the state of trans healthcare in the UK, told through the prism of an ill-fated Beatles tribute band.
Audiences wanting a genuine Beatles tribute should look elsewhere. Truth and fantasy converge in all-trans company Speakbeast’s intelligent hour, which flits between abstract pop-culture comedy and impassioned activism.
Lowen Hunt with Anya Idrizi and Isaac Frost. Pic: Speakbeast
London is the opening setting, as the First International Symposium on Gender Identity is held in 1969, though there’s an immediate jump to the present for the imaginary 56th edition.
Playwright Isaac Frost is joined by dramaturg Lowen Hunt and Anya Idrizi, who also directs, in a Beatles tribute performance, but they’re quickly accused of being ‘without’ and explain they’re ‘waiting for one more’ in John.
They alternate between embodying their Beatles alter-egos – Frost as Paul, Hunt as Ringo and Idrizi as George – and providing narration, in cut-scenes that are intentionally abrupt. Their physical comedy skills manifest in spontaneous-seeming, synchronised and laugh-winning moves.
‘McLennon’ theory
A fantasy retelling of The Beatles’ arrival interrupting the 1969 Symposium is intercut with the trio explaining the internet-popular ‘McLennon’ theory (‘I can tell some of you are already familiar with it, freaks’) and deliberately puzzling statements about the missing John being a trans YouTuber.
There’s some light audience interaction in a media training-style scene that descends into an uncomfortable grilling about the characters’ gender identities, with George asked: ‘isn’t your long hair an obstacle in your transition?’
Isaac Frost. Pic: Speakbeast
Each of the cast gives an assured performance, even amid the erratic pace and character swapping, with Frost’s vibrant delivery of his own material the stand-out.
The parallel between attitudes towards trans people and, well, The Beatles, becomes clearer as the overlapping stories progress, with queer identities hiding in plain sight a recurring theme. The trio posits that ‘if there weren’t rules, everyone would be a Beatles tribute act’ – rules like wearing a neat dark suit, and where each member should stand.
tired of pretending
Paul and Ringo both find themselves the butt of the joke here, the former for his ‘yearning expression’ and the latter for being a background spare; until they finally tell Paul they’re feeling stifled, ‘tired of pretending to be the Beatles all these years’.
Technical Designer Dallon Costello has interspersed the scene transitions with quotes, played over speakers and displayed on the stage’s back curtain. Some are from the real-life Beatles, some from what appear to be medical professionals discussing the treatment of trans patients.
Anya Idrizi. Pic: Speakbeast
The cast lip sync to some of the quotes, which also betrays the overlap in the stories, including one about ‘giving the kind of answers you think people want’ – which could equally apply to a press conference as to an appointment at a gender clinic.
As the penny drops that there will be no 56th edition of the Symposium, the trio temporarily sideline their Beatles characters to urgently address the unfathomable state of trans healthcare in the UK – including deeply personal accounts of being dismissed, ignored, and trapped on waiting lists for many years.
a fascinating, fresh perspective
John’s alter-ego is eventually revealed, in a touching moment that underscores the importance of supporting those at earlier points in their transitions, and the final note is of a shared aspiration: not to fail the next generation so miserably as the current one has been.
Someone Has Got to Be John is a fascinating, fresh perspective on ‘a system that’s remained unchanged and failing since The Beatles were a band’, creating a compelling case for action and pleading: ‘there has got to be a better way.’
Running time: 50 minutes (no interval).
theSpaceTriplex (Studio), The Prince Philip Building, 19 Hill Place EH8 9DP (Venue 38).
Monday 11 – Saturday 23 August 2025.
Daily: 6.05pm.
Tickets and details: Book here on EdFringe.com.
Venue website: www.thespaceuk.com
Instagram: @speakbeasttheatre
Linktree: @speakbeasttheatre
Lowen Hunt and Isaac Frost. Pic: Speakbeast
ENDS
