Quadrophenia is an extraordinary word that was the title of anextraordinary rock album. It then subsequently went on to be anextraordinary film and this week theatregoers in Bath have seen thatit has also now been reborn into an extraordinary stage play too.
The film is probably the best known of all. Starring Phil Danielsas Jimmy, the challenged young man who suffers from multiplepersonality problems, it charts his struggle to find his place inthe world by joining the burgeoning mod movement of the early 1960s.From being an outsider all his life, he discovers people and musicthat he can identify with and his life seems to be on an upwardspiral. Until, that is, he realises that even this new 'mod' worldisn't quite as it seems.
The film is a mixture of words and music but the stage play istotally different. It is quite simply a rock opera and the entirestory is told through the Who's incredible music and by the vividacting of the four people who simultaneously play Jimmy. Yes, fourpeople. At the same time. That may sound incredibly confusing but itworks because the actors are so strong you believe in all the fourindividual parts that make up the whole.
Staged in just two acts, the play takes us from Jimmy's troubledhome life to the beaches of Brighton where the mods verses rockersbattles go on, but more importantly Jimmy's battles within himselfintensify.
This is simply a superb production. The music is relentless,powerful and mesmerising - and the action on stage is exactly thesame. An incredibly young cast display unlimited energy, passionand commitment and they leave you with the feeling that they arereally living the various roles they inhabit.
At the end of two mesmerising hours, the faultless cast andmusicians were rewarded with a thoroughly deserved standing ovation.They were applauding that rare beast - a rock opera that trulyworked and which gave us all a truly absorbing and unforgettableevening.
Sam Holliday
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