Dance review: Quadrophenia

It's not often I go to see a purely dance-based show - very much not my area of expertise but sometimes a welcome change. There's always been some unusual inspirations for ballet but it seems like there's more than ever at the moment, and while I'm sure Peaky Blinders and Black Sabbath will be... experiences, I'm glad I went for Quadrophenia, based on The Who's album and the subsequent film. Pete Townshend's wife Rachel Fuller is a classical musician, and it's hers and Martin Batchelar's orchestral adaptation of Townshend's songs that provides the musical backdrop to the 1960s Brighton-set story of Jimmy (Paris Fitzpatrick,) a factory worker who finds release from the drudgery in girls, drugs and violence as part of a group of local mods.

But Fitzpatrick's comparatively slight figure next to the muscular dancers surrounding him mark him out as still an outsider even within his gang - he's bullied by his violent father (Stuart Neal,) and when he likes a girl (Serena McCall) she prefers someone else.

He does reconnect with an old friend (Euan Garrett,) but he's now a rocker, and when the rival tribes meet in a street-fight Jimmy falls in with the crowd against him. The episodic nature of the story suits choreographer Paul Roberts and director Rob Ashford's stage adaptation, which gives each song a distinct scene that really highlights how soaringly dramatic the music is.

The story it tells might be inspired by a record and film from the 1970s and set in the 1960s but it feels very appropriate to 2025 in its operatic dealing with disaffected young men having trouble expressing their feelings. I'm not sure how much of it is deliberate homoeroticism and how much is just... ballet, but the relationship between Jimmy and the Friend when they reunite is a very physical one; it's later mirrored in a wartime flashback scene where the Father loses his best friend (Georges Hann,) giving a background to his own constant anger.

Jimmy's idol is also male - The Godfather (Matthew Ball) is a pop star who mocks him, further leading him down a destructive path. (When Ball ripped his shirt open during "My Generation" one audience member yelled "Yee-haw!", it's a shame I don't know all this subtle ballet etiquette.)

Christopher Oram's set design has angular shards descending onto the stage, used to dramatic effect by YeastCulture's video projections. It's particularly haunting when waves crash against the stage in the opening and closing scenes, with Jimmy standing on a rocky outcrop with his gang of sharp-suited mods. By the end it appears even this group of friends isn't real, as they become parts of his personality, debating whether he should throw himself into the sea or not. The whole show swept me away enough that I barely registered the time passing, but this apocalyptic finale is just stunning.

Quadrophenia by Pete Townshend is booking until the 13th of July at Sadler's Wells; then continuing on tour to Salford.

Running time: 2 hours 10 minutes including interval.

Photo credit: Johan Persson.