task d writing styles

Quadrophenia, the musical, is delivered through songs and a variety of scenes. There is no dialogue other than song lyrics. This means that the audience has to work hard to piece together the complexities of Jimmy’s character and the events of the Mods and Rockers conflict: knowing the plot from the 1970s movie helps. Fortunately the storyline in the musical is fairly simple. Boy from violent dysfunctional home is unhappy with his life and sets off seeking love, adventure and a different purpose to his life. Boy goes astray and dream gets broken. The result is disappointment, frustration and violence.
Quadrophenia, The Musical, tells us the story of Jimmy a young man full of the usual teenage anger. Jimmy is a rebel who feels his life should be better and he cannot settle to the nine to five routine of life. The story line is about Jimmy’s struggle to understand and be understood. His parents cannot help him and his relationship with his Dad descends into violence as Jimmy questions his parents’ loveless relationship. Jimmy is looking for companionship and this leads him to join the local Mod gang who are heading for Brighton. Jimmy throws himself into the scene and his overuse of drugs begins to change his character and outlook. The local Mod leader becomes Jimmy’s hero until he realises that he works in service as a Bell Boy. Jimmy’s fantasy of a completely different life for young people is shattered. In Brighton his life finds a violent tragic end. His trip ends in disappointment as he loses the girl and ends up involved in a violent stabbing of his fallen hero.
Jimmy character is played by four different characters that represent different parts of his character: lunatic, hypocrite, romantic and violent. This can get confusing especially during the first act and when they are all on stage together.
The set for the show is fairly basic. The musicians appear behind the action on a tiered scaffold and there is a central rotating climbing frame as well as a rotating part to the stage. The transition from one scene to the next is slick and the songs move you through each scenario as they tell the story of Jimmy’s troubles. The simplistic set means that the youthful cast have to put lots of energy into recreating the Mod scene of the early sixties. The young performers do this through dance, song and acrobatics as they recreate the energy and dangers of the era. Their costumes represent the fashions of the day. The energetic cast is well supported by the trumpets, guitars and drums at the rear, which at times makes you feel that you are at a pop concert rather than a musical production. During, in the first act, it takes time to get into the plot. The scenes appear a bit random and one bit of dramatic tension, a fight at home, is followed by another bit of dramatic action: a row at work, or the four elements of jimmy’s character wrestling for control. Initially it takes a while to realise that they are all Jimmy, despite the fact that they all wear the same clothes throughout the production. The lack of dialogue, loud music and fast pace of the action makes it hard to follow. Nevertheless it is an enjoyable experience particularly when the old Who classics are bashed out. At the show I went to the cast joined the audience in the bar for after show refreshments and were welcomed and praised by today’s youngsters and a small number of pot bellied Mods, whose parkas, Ben Shermans and mini skirts had seen better days.