JOHN LENNON LIT SES POEMES

Un glaçon dans le vent
John LENNON

John Lennon (1940-1980) était un artiste complet : musicien, écrivain et dessinateur. Membre fondateur des Beatles , il a composé avec Paul Mc Cartney certains des plus grands standards de l’histoire du rock. Son premier livre, John Lennon : in His Own Write, paru en 1964, rassemble dessins, poèmes, conte et saynètes. Paru en France dès 1965, il n’était plus disponible. Son second livre, A Spaniard in the Works, paru en 1965 en Angleterre, restait curieusement inédit en langue française. Le succès de ces deux livres reste considérable à travers le monde. Un glaçon dans le vent rassemble ces deux ouvrages en un seul livre.

The John Lennon Play :
In his own write

On Tuesday 18th June 1968, a one act production directed by Victor Spinetti "The John Lennon Play: In His Own Write" opened at the Old Vic Theatre on Waterloo Road, London (the home of the esteemed National Theatre). The play was based upon John's books In his own write (published in 1964) & Spaniard in the works (from 1965).

The idea for a stage adaptation of John's books came from an Afro-American dramatist, Adrienne Kennedy, she was put in touch with Victor Spinetti who told her that John's permission would be required before she could go ahead. John was consulted and, although initially sceptical, the project was approved. Kennedy and Spinetti co-wrote the play adapting some of the ideas contained in the books to portray a character called 'Me' (played by Ronald Pickup) and the development of 'Me's' ideas. The play was then submitted to the National Theatre by its literary director, Kenneth Tynan. Sir Laurence Olivier, who ran the Old Vic, met with John and suggested he may have to think about record and film rights, neither materialized but a book of the screenplay was published in a hardbound edition by Jonathan Cape (the American edition was published by Simon & Schuster). John attended the opening night with Yoko Ono in one of their earliest appearances in public together, sadly the events on stage were somewhat overshadowed by press interest in this new relationship - Photographers were heard to shout "Where's your wife?" as John entered the theatre, his only reply was "I don't know".

* During its' run at the Old Vic, "In His Own Write" was preceded by two other one act plays to complete the programme, these were "A Covent Garden Tragedy" and "An Unwarranted Intrusion" (neither of which had anything to do with Lennon).