Royal Ballet Principal dancer Matthew Ball will joins the company of Quadrophenia, a Mod Ballet for select performances during the Southampton run, as a guest artist in the role of Godfather.
The show will tour to Mayflower Theatre from 18 – 21 June 2025.
In 1973, guitar smashing rock genius Pete Townshend wrote Quadrophenia. Recorded by The Who – it quickly became an iconic and multi-million selling album. Quadrophenia defined a generation and in 1979 inspired the cult classic feature film of the same name.
Now it’s back with a cast of exceptional dancers, introducing new audiences to troubled mod Jimmy’s story while remaining true in spirit to the much-loved original. Quadrophenia, a Mod Ballet is steeped in the iconography of the 1960s – sharp suits, soul music, vespas and parkas but its themes of lost youth, rebellion, the search for belonging and hunger for social change are just as urgent today.
Matthew Ball trained at The Royal Ballet School and joined The Royal Ballet during the 2013/14 Season, and was promoted to Principal dancer in 2018. Ball has performed leading roles across the Company’s classical and contemporary repertory and signature works by Frederick Ashton and Kenneth MacMillan. His role creations include Dr John Brown in Christopher Wheeldon’s Like Water for Chocolate and in Corybantic Games and Strapless, Wayne McGregor’s Multiverse, Obsidian Tear and The Dante Project, Twyla Tharp’s The Illustrated ‘Farewell’, and Crystal Pite’s Light of Passage. In 2016 he was named Best Emerging Artist at the Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards. He performed The Swan/Stranger in Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake.
Rising star, Paris Fitzpatrick, will perform the iconic lead role of Jimmy. Paris completed his professional dance training at Tring Park School for the Performing Arts. He was nominated for The Times Breakthrough Award at the South Bank Sky Arts Awards in 2020, for Outstanding Male Modern Performance at the National Dance Awards 2022, and for Best Male Dancer and again for Outstanding Male Modern Performance which he then went on to win at the National Dance Awards 2024.
The cast of Quadrophenia, a Mod Ballet, in alphabetical order,Curtis Angus, Dan Baines, Jonathon Luke Baker, Will Bozier, Anya Ferdinand, Paris Fitzpatrick, Euan Garrett, Seirian Griffiths, Zack Guest, Georges Hann, Dylan Jones, Serena McCall, Stuart Neal, Joshua Nkemdilim, Zach Parkin, Amaris Pearl-Gillies, Yasset Roldan, Pam Pam Sapchartanan, Kate Tydman, Jack Widdowson and Taela Yeomans-Brown.
Tickets for Quadrophenia – A Mod Ballet (Wednesday 18 – Saturday 21 June 2025) are on sale at mayflower.org.uk or 02380 711811.
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