Kevin Wathen talks to Viv Hardwick about the mod masterclass that is Quadrophenia.

GEORDIE actor Kevin Wathen didn’t have a clue about the cult mod following for Quadrophenia until he got involved with a musical version of the 1973 album which spawned a 1979 film. “I heard it was coming up, went for it, and not knowing much about it really. I knew about The Who but didn’t have any in-depth knowledge of what the project was and I’d never listened to Quadrophenia,” admits the performer from Fenham, Newcastle, who is starring in a tour which arrives at the Sunderland Empire next week.

“Previously the only thing I’d done before, which had a massive cult following of this kind, was Hair (the 1969 musical revived in 2005 at London’s Gate Theatre). Luckily everyone is desensitised to nakedness thanks to TV and the main thing for Hair was making it applicable to modern times and it was the same for Quadrophenia. The themes are relevant, such as discovering who you are as an adult, but there are historical connotations involving the Sixties,” he says.

Wathen says he was one of lucky ones because playing the role of the older Godfather, who attempts to offer advice to the four Jimmys playing the young central character, means he didn’t have to have a modstyle haircut and go hunting for a parka to wear.

“I’ve definitely hacked most of my hair off. That’s because I was a bit of a hippie before. The Godfather is not really a mod, he’s almost like an echo of when the mod movement changed to punk. Peter Townshend (who created the rock album) has talked about groups like The Sex Pistols taking over and the whole ‘we can do better than you’ argument came along which led to the Who Are You? album,” he says.

Originally Roger Daltry was tough guy Jimmy, John Entwistle was romantic Jimmy, Keith Moon was lunatic Jimmy (what else?) and Townshend was the hypocrite. The all-sung musical, written by Jeff Young and directed by Tom Critchley, features George Maguire, Ryan O’Donnell, Jack Roth and Rob Kendrick in these respective roles.

Wathen is delighted to be involved in the classic Who numbers such as Substitute, Can’t Explain and So Sad as well as a couple of the band’s early Motown covers.

“I get to sing the older, more recognisable tunes which makes it a lot of fun. I sat down with Peter Townshend once because it was kind of hard to play someone who wasn’t quite fitting in with everyone else.

He told me he compared my character to an early Van Morrison, when he was with the band Them, who liked hanging around with the mods, but were never classed as one of the mods,” Wathen says.

He admits his role is “kinda hard to explain” because the Godfather is someone who has escaped the poverty of his surroundings with a couple of pop hits, but doesn’t return to a hero’s welcome when he stages a concert back on home turf.

“With all due respect to Pete Towshend you really don’t know what he was thinking when he wrote the lyrics because in Quadrophenia you’re dealing with four personalities within one person. It gives you a licence to do anything.

It’s interesting to have four different actors playing Jimmy, but it can be confusing in my personal opinion,”

says Wathen, who admits that the audience has to follow the musical closely to understand it all.

“It’s fantastic to work on something like this because Pete Townshend wouldn’t let just anyone handle his music. I’ve lived in London for about 11 years now and now we’re touring you start to realise how country-wide the fans are. There was a mod revival in the Seventies with The Jam, whether it’s that or the original mods I’m not sure, but we have at least 70-80 older guys on scooters who come along on opening nights and chant ‘we are the mods’,” he adds.

Reflecting on the fact that, according to legend, Roger Daltry was never a great fan of Quadrophenia as a project, Wathen reveals that when he worked on Hair, members of the original creative team appeared to hate each other. “It was blatantly apparent when you saw them and you think it must happen when these guys go through so much together. In the case of The Who there’s been the strange deaths of Moon and Entwistle which can’t help but complicate relationships,” says Wathen.

He’s cautious about rumours of a West End run, but is aware that a couple of US producers are taking an interest. “Bill Schultz, who was responsible for The Simpsons, King Of The Hill and Family Guy, is massive on The Who and recently did a tribute show to them in Las Vegas. So there’s talk of this show going to Vegas, but it’s all just talk at the moment. When you look at the success of We Will Rock You, this could be infinitely better than that because the original album was a story already,” he says.

His parents caught the show in Edinburgh because they have moved from Tyneside to Berwick. Wathen recalls he first wanted to be a pilot and became interested in performing arts thanks to an inspirational music teacher when he attended school in Alnwick and went off to London’s Drama Centre to complete his acting training.

“I’d travelled around as a kid but I know no one and nothing in London.

I was really green and it was savage for the first year, but the centre was fantastic, although it has no relevance to the musical theatre I’m doing now. The only things the drama centre seems to produce is actors or people who are insane,” he jokes.

■ Quadrophenia, Sunderland Empire, Tuesday until Saturday. Box Office: 0844-847-2499