Red light splashes on to a backdrop of rivet-bordered metal panels as Stuart Sutcliffe attacks his canvas. A mouthy, edgy John Lennon, awed by the young artist's "cool", persuades him to join the Beatles and head for Hamburg where, to John's distress, Sutcliffe falls for hip photographer Astrid Kirchherr. Backbeat (adapted by Iain Softley and Stephen Jeffreys from Softley's 1994 film) is the story of these three and that time. Scenes charting the lads' transitions from upturned-denim youth to black-leathered experience are bridged by fast and furious sets in seedy clubs where hard days' nights hone their rock'n'roll skills. The fresh-faced actor-musicians are touching as embryonic incarnations of the legends in those yesterdays when John's jealousy nearly kept them back from coming together.