Tag Archives: Jonathan Evans

QUADROPHENIA, A MOD BALLET

★★★★★

Sadler’s Wells Theatre

QUADROPHENIA, A MOD BALLET

Sadler’s Wells Theatre

★★★★★

“A truly triumphant interpretation – poignant and powerful.”

When Pete Townshend wrote the rock opera “Quadrophenia”, released back in 1973, he felt that The Who, as a band, was ‘lost’ and that the whole process of recording the double album ‘helped us find our way’ (his words). The central character is partly a reflection of this, but also a brilliant description – and representation – of the mid 1960s as seen through the eyes of a young man searching for meaning in a world filled with disillusionment. It has become a rock opera, a film and a classical opera. Now, as a ballet over half a century later, it maintains its relevance without the slightest hint of modernising it aesthetically or culturally. We are fully immersed, not just in pure nostalgia, but also the sheer beauty of the performances, the backdrop and the cinematic orchestral arrangements of the music.

Opening with crashing waves against a solitary rock, we see Jimmy alone on the outcrop, swiftly joined by his four personalities who move like the waves – like sirens luring him into the waters below. But Jimmy chooses the route back to his dissatisfied life. Paris Fitzpatrick is extraordinary as the young mod, Jimmy, barely away from the vast stage for a second, leading us and the other dancers through the tempestuous twists of his journey. The performers need little guidance, however. Each one is a leader in their own right: the Tough Guy, the Romantic or the Hypocrite; the Godfather, the Ace Face, the Mod Girl, the Rocker. Or the shell-shocked parent. Directed by Rob Ashford, every step is meticulously clear while Yeastculture.org’s panoramic video projections seamlessly carry us from place to place on Christopher Oram’s simple yet fluid set.

Steeped in symbolism, the emotional impact is compelling. We are constantly distracted from intellectual appreciation. The characterisation is as integral as the virtuosity of the dancers. When Fitzpatrick’s Jimmy meets his childhood friend (Euan Garrett), now a Rocker, the couple’s inner conflicts are vividly evoked in every movement. Paul Roberts’ choreography throughout is at once original and recognisable, athletic and intimate, violent and tender. It refuses categorisation; ballet moves swaying into jazz, contemporary, a touch of street. The impurity is vital to Roberts’ telling of the story. Jimmy’s parents, and his relationship with them, only need a few dance steps to give us the full picture. Stuart Neal and Kate Tydman – as the father and mother – attract and repel in gorgeous tarantellas, erotic and violent, bleeding into the Father’s traumatic memories of WWII (a disturbing yet perfectly glorious ensemble routine).

And, of course, we have the love interest: Serena McCall’s Mod Girl, sassy and sexy, moving within and without the yearning reach of our ‘quadrophenic’ protagonist. The charismatic rival, the Ace Face, is a constant threat – a swaggering and commanding Dan Baines, while Matthew Ball’s rock star figure, the Godfather, is a stark reminder to Jimmy never to meet your idol. A self-deprecating moment deliberately referencing The Who’s status in the seventies that has survived intact to the present day. This attention to detail surfaces in waves of nostalgia, that some may not fully appreciate. You have to be a true Londoner to feel the full dewy-eyed force of designer Oram’s recreation of Soho’s ‘New Piccadilly Café’. Authenticity is a keyword here, which is certainly amplified by Paul Smith’s sharp costumes.

The driving force is the music, orchestrated by Rachel Fuller (and Martin Batchelar). Faithful to Townshend’s original rock numbers, Fuller has scored the music for a full symphony orchestra. The electric rock rhythms of guitars and bass occasionally burst through, but elsewhere the vocal melodies and guitar solos are searing violins, aching cellos, rich double-basses or horn sections. Entirely instrumental, you can still at times hear Roger Daltrey’s voice surfing the multi-layered melody lines. Like the dancing, it is grand but far from precious. With both you could just as easily be in the Albert Hall or the sweaty dark of Wardour Street’s Marquee Club. Another landmark sadly gone. “Quadrophenia” harks back to another time that some say is long dead, but this ballet drags it alive and kicking into the present. It resonates unmistakably without any concession to the twenty-first century. It doesn’t need it. The essence is all there – in the dance and in the music.

When ‘Quadrophenia’ was first released, Pete Townshend probably had no idea of its legacy. Although he has since stated that The Who ‘never recorded anything so ambitious or audacious again’. “Quadrophenia: A Mod Ballet” is just as (maybe even more so) ambitious and audacious, even by today’s standards. A truly triumphant interpretation – poignant and powerful.



QUADROPHENIA, A MOD BALLET

Sadler’s Wells Theatre

Reviewed on 25th June 2025

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Johan Persson

 

 


 

 

 

 

Recently reviewed at Sadler’s Wells venues:

ALICE | ★★★★ | May 2025
BAT OUT OF HELL THE MUSICAL | ★★★★ | May 2025
SPECKY CLARK | ★★★ | May 2025
SNOW WHITE: THE SACRIFICE | ★★★★★ | April 2025
SKATEPARK | ★★★★ | April 2025
MIDNIGHT DANCER | ★★★★ | March 2025
THE DREAM | ★★★★★ | March 2025
DEEPSTARIA | ★★★★ | February 2025
VOLLMOND | ★★★★★ | February 2025
DIMANCHE | ★★★★ | January 2025

 

 

 

QUADROPHENIA

QUADROPHENIA

QUADROPHENIA

WHO IS CLAUDE CAHUN?

★★

Southwark Playhouse Borough

WHO IS CLAUDE CAHUN?

Southwark Playhouse Borough

★★

“Director David Furlong deftly and clearly steers the action back and forth in time”

There are two dramatic themes that are being played out in Rowland Hill’s play, “Who is Claude Cahun?”, that seem to be competing with each other. Essentially it is about two individuals’ fight against the rise of fascism in the 1930s and their experiences during the second world war. On the other hand, it is a love story between a photographic artist and her muse using today’s transgender and queer ideology to explain the dynamics of their relationship. Hill’s writing creates a conflict between the two rather than blending them together into a coherent narrative. The former wins. We get a fine perspective of Claude Cahun’s – along with their lover Marcel Moore – resistance work following the German occupation of Jersey, but the crucial question in the title of the play is left unanswered.

Claude Cahun was born Lucy Schwob into a well-off Jewish family. After attending the Sorbonne, they adopted the pseudonym and began making photographic self-portraits, eventually collaborating in the 1920s with lifelong partner Marcel Moore (born Suzanne Malherbe). Although Cahun received the recognition for their artwork, Moore’s integral contribution went largely unrecognised. Rivkah Bunker and Amelia Armande, who play Cahun and Moore respectively, give mannered performances that are generally too polite to express the groundbreaking relevance of their works and lives. In their struggle to identify themselves we also have little to latch onto either. It is a slow burn, and it is difficult to match the lack of fire with the passion needed to fuel their resistance and activism work during World War II.

Director David Furlong deftly and clearly steers the action back and forth in time, showing us snippets of the young Cahun before returning to the house in Jersey in which Claude and Marcel are forced to accommodate members of the Gestapo; all the while covertly carrying out their activism – or ‘guerilla art’ as they called it – distributing anti-German fliers and poetry under the title of ‘The Soldier with No Name’. Among other roles, Ben Bela Böhm and Gethin Alderman are two, somewhat witless, Nazi officers led on a cat and mouse chase by the couple. There is an overall lack of tension, although glimmers of the danger do shine through when Claude Cahun is finally cornered and questioned. Bunker’s cool portrayal of the resilience of Claude’s character is a quiet and strong episode in an otherwise confused narrative.

Awkward attempts at physical theatre, which are intended to mirror the couple’s affinity with the surrealist movement, are at odds with the naturalism of the cast’s performances. More successful is the use of Jeffrey Choy’s video design, incorporating images of the real-life characters, as well as placing us firmly in time and place with captions. A modern approach that still adds to the old-fashioned feel of the piece.

In the first act, particularly, there is little in the writing or performances to make sense of – or justify – the emphasis on twenty-first century trans self-representation. Nor do we get a sense of the androgyny and the blurring of gender that informed their lives and work. During the occupation, the couple were forced to give the outward impression that they were sisters, living together as ‘good housekeepers’. However, that portrayal was little different from what we see in their backstory as the so-called progressive artists. Tokens of mask work and linguistic gestures are not enough to underline the importance of their work and their pioneering representation of gender identity.

The often-untold story of Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore is a fascinating and vital one that should resonate with everything that is happening today. Hill’s writing certainly brings it to light, without fully bringing it to life.

 



WHO IS CLAUDE CAHUN?

Southwark Playhouse Borough

Reviewed on 20th June 2025

by Jonathan Evans

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

Last ten shows reviewed at Southwark Playhouse venues:

THIS IS MY FAMILY | ★★½ | May 2025
THE FROGS | ★★★ | May 2025
RADIANT BOY | ★★½ | May 2025
SUPERSONIC MAN | ★★★★ | April 2025
MIDNIGHT COWBOY | ★★ | April 2025
WILKO | ★★★ | March 2025
SON OF A BITCH | ★★★★ | February 2025
SCISSORHANDZ | ★★★ | January 2025
CANNED GOODS | ★★★ | January 2025
THE MASSIVE TRAGEDY OF MADAME BOVARY | ★★★ | December 2024

 

WHO IS CLAUDE CAHUN?

WHO IS CLAUDE CAHUN?

WHO IS CLAUDE CAHUN?