The unsung heroines of The Beatles story

Dear readers — Laurence here. Welcome to your Monday edition, with a slightly experimental flavour. Perhaps unwisely, Abi’s gone away, leaving me to make editorial decisions. I thought for a bit of a change we’d eschew politics and head instead to the theatre. The Unity, in fact, where a new play is about to début: Mona & Mimi. 

Set over one evening in 1961, Mona & Mimi is a fictionalised meeting between two strong-willed Liverpool women: Mona Best, the club owner, promoter, and mother of the Beatles original drummer Pete, and Mimi Smith, the maternal aunt and parental guardian of John Lennon. To find out about this exciting two-hander, I speak with the play’s writer and producer Catherine Leen. But first, your Monday briefing.

Catch up and coming up:

• Over the weekend, we published Abi’s exclusive on Wirral Council’s regeneration chaos. This really seems to have put the cat among the pigeons, so if you haven’t already, make sure you read it here. 

Exclusive: How Wirral Council’s multi-million pound regeneration dream crashed

A Post investigation sees council insiders claim senior officials ‘put a bullet in the head’ of plans to improve the peninsula

The PostAbi Whistance

• Coming up this week, award-winning investigative journalist Stephanie Power takes us into the world of Liverpool faith schools, asking why the city has so many and the stories of teachers who work there, children who attend, and their parents. Don’t miss out because this one is going to be fascinating. 
• Then over the weekend, Laurence is heading to the Woodchurch estate on the Wirral to find out if its dangerous reputation is still deserved, and how the community is coping amidst reports of drugs and violent crime. 

Your Post briefing

🥀 Tributes have been paid to Barry Devonside, who fought with "compassion, determination and strength" for justice after his son Christopher was among the 97 Liverpool fans killed as a result of the Hillsborough disaster in 1989. Barry went with Christopher, then 18, to the match, but had a ticket for the North Stand, where he could only watch as the tragedy unfolded. Devonside, who has died at the age of 78, went every day for two years to the victims' inquests, which in 2016 concluded they had been unlawfully killed. Charlotte Hennessy, daughter of another Hillsborough victim and Barry’s close friend, said: "The only peaceful thing about Barry's death is knowing that he is reunited with Christopher now." The solicitor who represented Mr Devonside described him as a “kind-hearted, passionate person.”

🚨 A man has been arrested following an incident of alleged racist abuse at Anfield stadium. The match between Liverpool and Bournemouth was halted in the first half when Bournemouth player Antoine Semenyo reported being racially abused to the referee. Merseyside Police said a 47-year-old man from Liverpool was then identified and removed from the stadium. The man was arrested on suspicion of a racially aggravated public order offence and taken into custody for questioning. Semenyo went on to score twice in the game, which Liverpool won 4-2. On Instagram, he thanked his teammates for their support, the match officials for their professionalism, and "Liverpool players and fans who showed their true character."

🏠 Eight long years after a gas explosion ripped through New Ferry, the first residents have moved into new apartments built on the site. The March 2017 explosion injured eighty-one people and destroyed about 60 homes and businesses. Pascal Blasio, a furniture shop owner, was later jailed for 19 years for causing the explosion, which he had done in the hopes of claiming insurance money. The first phase of the development includes 24 one-bedroom apartments and 10 two-bedroom apartments, a mix of affordable rent and rent to buy homes; the second phase will see a further 43 new homes and is planned to begin later this year. New resident Debbie Jones told the BBC that people living in the apartment blocks standing on the blast site were "building a new community".

📻 And St Helens has said goodbye to Ray French. The former dual-code rugby star, who died last month aged 85, was the voice of rugby league on BBC television and radio for more than four decades. His funeral service held at Helens Parish Church featured a guard of honour by players from St Helens rugby league side, and club chairman Eamonn McManus described him as a "great, great man" and "one of the best of the best of St Helens". French played four times as a second-row for England at rugby union, before switching codes and earning four Great Britain caps as a rugby league player. At club level he played more than 200 times for St Helens from 1961 to 1967, winning the Championship and Challenge Cup. After retiring he became the BBC's lead rugby league commentator before retiring from commentating in 2019.

The big story: Mona & Mimi, the unsung heroines of the Beatles' journey

Showing at the Unity Theatre from 3 September, Mona and Mimi imagines a meeting between John Lennon's guardian, Mimi Smith, and Mona Best, mother of one-time Beatles drummer, Pete. Mona owned the Casbah Coffee Club, where The Beatles played some of their first gigs — which is how they met Pete. The two women are opposites and in her first play, writer and oral historian Catherine Leen envisages what their paths crossing would throw up.

The Post spoke to Leen ahead of Mona and Mimi's opening, and we began by asking her why she chose this part of Beatles lore to examine.

Catherine Leen: It's a cracking story — and a bit of hidden history. A lot of stuff written about the Beatles, obviously, often done through a male lens, which is interesting in itself, but we’re looking at it from a different standpoint. I wanted to reclaim the voice of both [John Lennon’s guardian] Mimi Smith and [Pete Best’s mother] Mona Best. But I feel Mona especially has been under-appreciated, shall we say, in the story around the Beatles.

The Post: Can you tell us a bit about Mona?

Catherine Leen: An incredible business woman, entrepreneur, and visionary in her own right. She tends to just get referred to as Pete's mum — which is lovely, because she adored her children and they adored her. But I thought it's interesting to name her and tell her story as much in terms of the other things she did in her life: being a businesswoman and a music promoter. She began the Casbah, a massively successful Liverpool club, which had thousands of members — not only was she selling [punters] tickets, but she made them become members. She knew how to kind of make money. And she was very involved in supporting and promoting the Beatles in their very early stages, when they came back from Hamburg.

That’s not a part of the Beatles’ story that’s often told.

Catherine Leen: When I spoke to people about her, they were saying, “No, I've never heard of her.” And I just thought, okay, maybe this is something we need to revisit and, and give voice to what she did achieve. You could argue her club was more important to the early development of the Beatles than the Cavern, which gets all the credit. But she actually got them into the Cavern Club initially! Without Mimi, Brian Epstein wouldn't have seen the Beatles there. A promoter — a gentleman of the period — described her as “a bit of a busybody.” And I was slightly outraged on her behalf! I don't think men or any businessmen doing what she was doing in terms of her club would be called a “busybody.” 

And how about Mimi Smith?

Catherine Leen: From my reading and understanding, she would be what we would today call a kinship carer. Primarily that’s grandparents looking after their grandchildren, mainly when the parents are not in a position — either through incarceration or drug addiction — to be able to create a safe environment. There’s a brilliant organisation in Liverpool called Kinship Carers who do a lot of support around this. Mimi Smith was, in effect, a kinship carer [for John Lennon]. There's an awful lot of complexities: negotiating family dynamics, the trauma of taking a child away from their parent… it's not overt, but we reference those issues as well in the play. 

They sound very different. I saw in the preview you said one represents the past and one the future. 

Catherine Leen: [Mimi] was very much a pre-War type: conservative, wary of change, traditional, and very, very class aware — conscious of people's places in society. By contrast Mona is very much a visionary: she embraces everything about the post-War world as it's changing, whether that be the development of the teenager, music, or fashion — she's just embracing all that, and wants to be part of it. But — and I shouldn’t give too much away — they also have quite a lot in common in terms of their attitude towards responsibility: the love of a child, the role of a carer, the sacrifices a carer must make. And I think they also bond over women trying to be economically independent in a very difficult period when, you know, women weren't even allowed to take mortgages out. 

This is your first play, is that right?

Catherine Leen: Yes, and I’m producing it too. It’s been a really exciting journey. It's such a difficult time at the moment in the arts. I was very lucky in that I got some funding from Stage One, an organisation that supports emerging producers. But what has been absolutely lovely is just the support and the good will coming from the arts community. We got free rehearsal space from HOME in Manchester and the Adelphi Theatre in Salford, and the Everyman & Playhouse said we could come in and have a route around for some costumes. And all that has meant everyone working on the play is getting paid properly, equity rates and all the rest of it. It's just so important to pay artists for their work. And the theaters in Liverpool are working so hard — they're doing so much outreach work, and putting on really interesting plays. The ecology is fabulous.

You must be so excited!

Catherine Leen: I can’t wait. And our vision is that this is the first part in the journey for Mimi and Mona’s story. We want to take it all over, and hopefully to [my home] in Ireland at some point too.

Photo of the week

We’re big fans of this sunset captured on Upper Duke Street captured by Reddit user cococream. Have a photo you want to submit to The Post? Email it to editor@livpost.co.uk for a chance to be featured in our Monday briefings.

Post Picks

🥙 It’s Fajitas day! And if you head down to Las Iguanas on Paradise Street, they’re giving away free fajitas to celebrate.

📽️ At Fact on Wood Street this Sunday, the terrifying 1977 horror Suspiria is playing! If you’ve never seen it, or only on a television screen, book your ticket here.

🎸 All weekend, Future Yard’s Launch Party will play host to an eclectic ensemble of local, national and international artists including Anna Erhard, Adult DVD, steel and Home Counties. To grab tickets for Friday, Saturday, Sunday or all three, click here.

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