CityLife

Quadrophenia

JIMMY AGAINST THE WORLD: Ryan O'Donnell in Quadrophenia

BASED on Pete Townshend and The Who’s rock opera album, this stage version has been a long time a’coming.

The album came out way back in ‘73, the film in '79 and only now, for the first time, is it live on stage.

The, sort-of story, follows Jimmy, a young mid-1960s unhappy Mod whose obsession with music and girls is embodied in four conflicting personalities (hence the title) – the tough guy, the romantic, the lunatic and the hypocrite.

The action is split between London and Brighton, as Jimmy goes on a journey of self discovery. There’s no real plot as such, instead it’s a succession of scenes that reflect Jimmy’s frustrations, rooted in his parents’ loveless marriage.

There were scores of Vespas and Lambrettas outside the theatre, as local enthusiasts’ clubs staged a ride-past and there was one, symbolic, mirror-laden, Mod scooter on stage.

Nostalgically grungy

The look of the piece overall is nostalgically grungy, with lots of smoke and light, corrugated Perspex screens, a huge revolving ring and the band perched on a scaffolding platform at the back of the stage.

The original score has been beefed up with the addition of other Who classics that include My Generation and Substitute. Even so, Tommy it most certainly isn’t. The stage version of that album - though it also veered towards the inflated and pretentious - did work theatrically as well as having a relatively memorable score.

Quadrophenia is a lot thinner all round and having the lead role played by four different actors, one for each of Jimmy’s incarnations, makes for lack of focus, even though the four lads involved here are pretty terrific and everything possible is done to try to sell the concept.

The band, featuring keyboards, trumpet and a couple of string players as well as the guitars and drums, is mightily impressive too. As are the entire supporting cast.

It’s pretty obvious that adaptation for the theatre hasn’t exactly been easy, no doubt the reason it wasn’t done long ago and, finally, it all seems a very great deal of unnecessary sound and fury over a very common or garden spot of teenage angst.

Quadrophenia is at the Opera House until Saturday, June 20.