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

Deckchairs fly, arms clash, bodies launch into the air as mods and rockers engage in a& fierce Brighton seafront battle. 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.

Isn’t this 1973 album an unlikely subject for dance? We’ve recently had& Black Sabbath: The Ballet, and Message in a Bottle set to Sting, so why& not? After all, Quadrophenia is theatrical at its roots. “The closest thing to a grand opera I’ll ever write,” says the Who’s guitarist and songwriter Pete Townshend. 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. It was when Townshend heard the instrumental version, orchestrated by the musician Rachel Fuller (also Townshend’s wife) that he& said to her: “I think this would make a lovely ballet.”