Matthew Ball to join the cast of Quadrophenia, a Mod Ballet
In four weeks, Quadrophenia, a Mod Ballet, opens in Plymouth and will tour the UK, including three weeks at London’s Sadler’s Wells theatre.
Joining the cast for some of the London performances will be Royal Ballet Principal dancer Matthew Ball in the role of Godfather. It is not Ball’s first foray in ballet/musical theatre territory – he performed The Swan/Stranger role in Matthew Bourne‘s Swan Lake in London, Liverpool and Tokyo during the 2018-2019 tour.
What is Quadrophenia?
In 1973, The Who guitarist, Pete Townshend, was still smashing guitars onstage after every concert with the band, though it was later revealed that he glued them back together, and took several instruments on tour so there was time for the glue to set. It was at this time that he wrote Quadrophenia, which became The Who’s sixth studio recording and a multi-million selling album.
It is a rock opera (their previous rock opera hit, Tommy, came out in 1969) and tells the story of Jimmy, a young Mod, and his struggles with identity, alienation, and mental health, set in 1965’s London and Brighton. The Mods were a British youth subculture that took shape in the late 1950s and early 1960s, characterised by their sharp suits, passion for modern jazz, and scooter lifestyle.
Jimmy, the main character, is young, confused and struggling to understand his identity. On the double-album’s sleeve notes, he is quoted as saying, “It must be alright to be plain ordinary mad… Schizophrenic? I’m bleeding Quadrophenic.”
Quadrophenia is a combination of two words, quadraphonic and schizophrenia. Quadraphonic sound was one of the first attempts at surround sound and typically used four speakers for stereo instead of two, and though it soon fell out of use, Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon also came out in this format.
The 1979 film of the same name, now something of a cult classic, starred Phil Daniels as Jimmy, with Sting, Leslie Ash, Toyah Willcox, Michael Elphick, and Timothy Spall among a large cast.
Rehearsals
A Mod Ballet
Now Quadrophenia is back, and its themes of lost youth, rebellion, the search for belonging and hunger for social change are just as relevant today.
Quadrophenia, a Mod Ballet will tour to Plymouth Theatre Royal (28 May – 1 June 2025), Edinburgh Festival Theatre (10 – 14 June 2025) and the Mayflower, Southampton (18 – 21 June 2025) before having its official opening at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London (24 June – 13 July 2025) and then visiting The Lowry, Salford (15 – 19 July 2025).
The production is currently being created and rehearsed at Sadler’s Wells East, the new centre of dance in the heart of East London.
Graham Spicer, aka ‘Gramilano’, is a writer, director and photographer based in Milan. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy. His articles have appeared in various publications from Woman’s Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the Danza in Italia column for Dancing Times magazine. Graham was the historical advisor on Codice Carla, the 2023 documentary on Italian ballerina Carla Fracci.
Graham also works as a dance photographer, and his photos have appeared in many books, theatre programmes, and magazines, including Dancing Times, Dance Spirit and Ballet2000, as well as all the major Italian newspapers.
He is a member of the Dance Section of The Critics’ Circle.
