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Pete Townshend remakes Quadrophenia for a new generation: ‘The world is a dangerous place at the moment’
It may be set 60 years ago, but a new ballet version of The Who’s rock opera asks questions about youth, society and masculinity that still resonate – and it brought its original creator to tears
But in this east London dance studio – with Zaha Hadid’s Olympic swimming pool visible through the window – young performers in sports socks, joggers and baggy T-shirts are reimagining the Who’s seminal document of the mid-60s Quadrophenia as ballet. Set in 1965, the story of disaffected young mod Jimmy looking for meaning in life via music, amphetamines and aspirational tailoring became a cult 1979 film starring Phil Daniels, but a more recent incarnation was Classic Quadrophenia, a symphonic version of the album for orchestra and tenor Alfie Boe. But the team quickly started workshopping ideas, drawing on classical, contemporary and commercial dance, and brought in Tony-, Emmy- and Olivier-winning director Rob Ashford, to help shape what Townshend calls “a compressed vision of what a lot of young men go through in their late teens and early 20s.
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