IT’S not often you can say John Lennon was outshone by Paul McCartney – the bespectacled Beatle was born first, divorced first and died first.

There was the day they met, when Paul showed he could tune a guitar, and there was last night at the Royal Court.

Stephen Fletcher had the mannerisms and voice down pat, yet his performance wasn’t a caricature – not even when he appeared in a bulky Aran sweater apparently poised to burst into a chorus of Mull of Kintyre at any moment.

It was comic because of its similarities to the real McCoy – sorry, McCartney – and left you half wishing this was a show about him so you could witness the creation of The Frog Chorus, all those dodgy music videos and the Heather Mills divorce case.

But as the title – Lennon – stated, this was a show about the life, and death, of John, whose personality was divided into two by age.

As his younger self, Glaswegian Daniel Healy did a good job of the Liverpool accent and his singing voice sounded a lot like the genuine thing.

But his performance in the storytelling scenes between the songs lacked zing.