Tag Archives: Paul Smith

QUADROPHENIA, A MOD BALLET

★★★★

UK Tour

QUADROPHENIA, A MOD BALLET

Festival Theatre

★★★★

“This Quadrophenia is a feast for the eyes”

Pete Townshend’s Quadrophenia, A Mod Ballet, part of Sadler’s Wells On Tour, has reached Edinburgh. For fans of Pete Townshend and The Who; the album Quadrophenia (1973), and the film Quadrophenia (1979), this is welcome news. But make no mistake, Quadrophenia, A Mod Ballet, while sharing much of the same material with its predecessors, is also quite different. Paradoxically, this most recent reimagining cannot really be appreciated unless you know the earlier works. How you feel about The Who’s hard hitting sound—and especially their lyrics—being omitted from this version is up to you. But should you need compensation, you will find it in the wonderful dancing, extraordinary design, and lovely orchestration. Last night’s audience at the Festival Theatre lapped it up with enthusiasm.

Quadrophenia has always been a piece about summing up the voices of the Mod generation. The 1960s marked the beginning of something new in post war Britain—a young demographic who had their own music, their own fashions, and crucially, money in their pockets to spend on these things. The Mods, and their arch rivals, the Rockers, took all these things to the dance floors, and then to the streets. Quadrophenia celebrates all this, but also emphasizes the confusion and dissociation that some felt in a shifting culture that defined itself by opposition. Opposition to their parents and their values, to the blue collar factory jobs, and the drabness that was Britain then, still struggling to emerge from the trauma of World War Two. The show captures the style and the energy of the Mods and Rockers in its dance, costumes, and elaborate stage projections. But in this version of the story, the edginess is muted, and good looks take precedence over protest. And another important theme, always bubbling below the surface of The Who’s music and lyrics, and the film of Quadrophenia, that of the fractured, schizophrenic self, is difficult to recognize in A Mod Ballet unless you know the earlier history.

Quadrophenia, A Mod Ballet has assembled a fantastically talented group for this production. The team have extensive experience of the performing arts in ballet, musicals, and it shows. From director Rob Ashford, choreographer Paul Roberts and musical director and orchestrator Rachel Fuller to set designer Christopher Oram, video designer Yeastculture.org, and the costume design team of Paul Smith, Natalie Pryce and Hannah Teare, this is a seamless production that feels like a Broadway musical. It doesn’t hurt that many of the artists working on this show have also had extensive experience with working on rock concerts, and world class orchestras. There’s a distinct air of glamour surrounding the dancers on stage even as the muscular choreography breaks out a few moves not usually seen in ballet. The dancers themselves inhabit the constantly changing space with a mix of dance, and acting, even if they don’t speak. When they aren’t dancing, they’re sitting in diners, drinking coffee, or even, in a brilliantly choreographed scene, being part of a crowded train carriage during the rush hour. Every detail of the period is captured; it’s lit to great advantage by lighting designer Fabiana Piccioli. This Quadrophenia is a feast for the eyes.

A Mod Ballet marks a new direction in the ongoing story of Quadrophenia. Whether it will succeed with audiences in the same way that The Who’s rock opera Tommy succeeded, for example, remains to be seen. But this show is sure to please dance enthusiasts everywhere, even if the narrative struggles to maintain equal clarity with the music and choreography.



QUADROPHENIA, A MOD BALLET

Festival Theatre then UK tour continues

Reviewed on 10th June 2025

by Dominica Plummer

Photography by Johan Persson

 

 


 

 

 

Previously reviewed at this venue:

CINDERELLA | ★★★★ | November 2024

 

 

 

QUADROPHENIA

QUADROPHENIA

QUADROPHENIA

The Canary and the Crow

The Canary and the Crow

★★★½

Arcola Theatre

The Canary and the Crow

The Canary and the Crow

Arcola Theatre

Reviewed – 20th January 2020

★★★½

 

“fresh, engaging and painfully relevant, and a startlingly accomplished debut”

 

Having already won the crowds at Edinburgh Fringe, The Canary and the Crow, directed by Paul Smith, comes to the Arcola to try the slightly more implacable audiences of London.

Writer Daniel Ward begins by addressing the audience directly, explaining the play’s genesis: A well-known black actor came to Ward’s drama school and asked all BAME students, “What is it like being black at drama school?” And by way of answering that question and its wider implication – what is it like being black in a society that is predominantly white – he has written The Canary and the Crow. Beginning his story as an eleven-year old accepting a scholarship to a fancy private school, Ward plays both his younger self (the Bird) and his narrating self, giving the story a necessary duality – the younger self experiencing this new and privileged world for the first time, and the present self placing this experience into a wider understanding of society.

Ward is aided in his story-telling by Nigel Taylor, Laurie Jamieson and Rachel Barnes. Taylor, initially the audience hype man and DJ, doubles up as Ward’s teenage friend from home, paralleling Ward’s experiences as someone who was not given the same opportunity. Jamieson and Barnes cover all manner of ‘rah’ characters from Ward’s private school, as well as providing cello, keyboard and vocals.

There’s pretty much no set to speak of. Instead, Ward moves about centre stage, encircled (or caged in) by Taylor, Jamieson and Barnes, who each take their turns to join him, thereafter returning to their onlooker’s spot.

There’s a bit of a disconnect between the production choices and the writing itself. The script is full of shade and nuance, dealing with difficult and complicated problems of belonging and identity, as well as economic and cultural advantage, making arguments such as, “ambition without opportunity is what kills people.”

But the production wants to simplify the story. Granted, Jamieson and Barnes provide plenty of comic relief in their depiction of toff pupils and uptight teachers. But in doing so, they mar these characters’ ominous implications. Similarly, the soundtrack (Prez 96 and James Frewer), a mash-up of grime and classical music, doesn’t quite reach the heights of dissonance and discord that it might. It’s as though Ward couldn’t decide who his audience should be. As gig theatre, this feels like something for teenagers, and in that capacity, it succeeds. But the story holds greater possibilities for a more sophisticated production, maybe something that gives room for those moments of suffocating tension or heart-breaking tenderness that are somewhat lost in this production.

Regardless, The Canary and The Crow is fresh, engaging and painfully relevant, and a startlingly accomplished debut. I look forward to seeing what Ward comes up with next.

Reviewed by Miriam Sallon

Photography by The Other Richard

 


The Canary and the Crow

Arcola Theatre until 8th February

 

Previously reviewed at this venue:
Little Miss Sunshine | ★★★★★ | April 2019
The Glass Menagerie | ★★★★ | May 2019
Radio | ★★★★ | June 2019
Riot Act | ★★★★★ | June 2019
Chiflón, The Silence of the Coal | ★★★★ | July 2019
The Only Thing A Great Actress Needs, Is A Great Work And The Will To Succeed | ★★★ | July 2019
Anna Bella Eema | ★★★ | September 2019
Beryl | ★★½ | October 2019
Meet Me At Dawn | ★★★ | October 2019
One Under | ★★★ | December 2019

 

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