Quadrophenia: A Mod Ballet Review
Quadrrophenia: A Mod Ballet production image. Photo by Johan Persson
Written by Jasmine for Theatre & Tonic
Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review
It is always refreshing to see how ballet can be adapted to new contexts and attract different audiences. This reinvention of The Who’s ‘Quadrophenia’ album (and many subsequent spin-offs) brings to life the world of mods (and occasional rockers) that thrived in the early sixties.
The highlights come in the moments where this world is the most fully realised; as they create the monotony of the factory line, have a rock star rock out on stage, or create the Brighton Beach battle of the mods and rockers. The way they build the violence of the fight into the slick routine, creating and breaking moments of united movement, is a brilliant time to watch, and it lands the emotional beats of the fight, the relationship with his brother, with real impact. You get a hint of how well Paul Roberts’ choreography and Rob Ashford’s direction can unite ballet with stories of violence in an earlier sequence, which turned out to be my favourite part of the show. There is a really beautiful flashback sequence which tells us why Jimmy’s father is the way he is, linking it to the PTSD of having fought in the Second World War, which it is easy to forget still impacted so many people in the 60s. It provides a really important counterweight to the world of the mods and rockers and teenager rebellion, and manages to bring its characters to life devastatingly well, even in the short time this sequence had.
I would have loved to see more moments like those ones, which brought us a deeper sense of who the characters were - there are a lot of characters in the central plot so many don’t get the same amount of time, and it felt some moments would have landed better if we had some more unique information about the pivotal characters. It may just be an issue of time, but in the moments it exists it is so effective that you wish you could get to know them better - such as when The Mod Girl is waiting tables or we see more of the nuance and power balance in her relationship with her boyfriend - her world builds out from Jimmy’s interest in her as a beautiful girl, but I would love it to do so more.
Serena McCall’s performance as The Mod Girl is absolutely gorgeous and she really finds the small moments in her facial expressions and quality of her movements. Dan Baines, in the role of The Ace Face, her boyfriend, also does an amazing job of creating a sense of power every time he’s onstage. Both McCall and Baines bring their relationship to life with a depth that makes them really interesting to watch together.
The decision to personify some of Jimmy’s conflicting emotions or identities - The Hypocrite, The Romantic, The Tough Guy, and The Lunatic - creates some moments that d bring the feeling of shifting moods and consciousnesses to life through an ever shifting overlap - Jimmy taking the lead and then his emotions taking over. It’s a visual language that is core to the show and expresses the push and pull of reinventing yourself really beautifully, never more so than at the end, where we see him be able to lean, literally, and dance with each facet of himself. Paris Fitzpatrick never falters as Jimmy, making every moment of teenage overwhelm or rebellion feel genuine and sympathetic, manage to show the vulnerability beneath every outburst of anger, or attempt at a new identity.
The recurring image of the beach also lent itself to this sense of returning to the self, and the expansive projections, which would bring a sense of the epic to the simpler set pieces, blew me away. It created a slight surrealism to the piece that was really beautiful, especially as the waves washed louder and louder in the final scene. The combination of YeastCulture’s video design, Christopher Oram’s set, and David McEwan’s sound design was particularly magic in moments like those.
All in all, Quadrophenia offers everything you’d want a ballet about the mods and rockers to offer, and finds so much beauty in this reinvention of The Who’s classic album. Rachel Fuller and Martin Batchelar’s orchestration is breathtaking and reason to go in and of itself, and the way they find the epic in this story of a sixties teen reinventing himself makes some unforgettable moments. Well worth seeing for all fans of The Who and early sixties culture!
Quadrophenia: A Mod Ballet plays at Sadler’s Wells before heading to The Lowry in Salford from 15 - 19 July
★ ★ ★ ★
