Latest news with #RachelFuller
Buzz Feed
09-07-2025
- Health
- Buzz Feed
Does Brown Period Blood Signal Hormonal Issues? I Asked A GP
Scrolling through Instagram, a video from holistic nutritionist Rachel Fuller caught my attention. 'The brown blood you get at the start and end of your period... yeah, that's not normal,' the alarming caption read. Though I'd been taught that brown blood was simply older blood that was released later into your cycle, the post claimed that darker stains could come from a progesterone deficit. But is that true? Here's what GP Dr Rupa Parmar, medical director of Midland Health, had to say on the claim. Yes, brown blood can be related to hormones – but it can also be completely normal Dr Parmar explained that blood turns brown as it oxidises, which becomes more likely the longer it's left in your body. At the start and end of your period, your flow is typically slower, so your blood has more time to turn brown. 'This is completely normal and shouldn't be a cause for concern,' Dr Parmar advised. But, the GP continued, sometimes hormones really can play a part. 'If there isn't enough oestrogen circulating in your body, the uterine lining may break down at various points throughout your cycle, resulting in brown spotting or other unusual bleeding,' she told us. That's because the blood takes longer to leave the body, allowing it to oxidise and turn brown. 'On top of this, low estrogen may lead to other symptoms, such as tender breasts, difficulty concentrating, mood changes, vaginal dryness, hot flashes, or even night sweats and insomnia.' You might also notice brown blood when starting new hormonal contraception as your body adjusts to the different levels. It may also appear when you ovulate and can even be a sign of perimenopause. When is brown blood something to worry about? In and of itself, 'Brown blood in your discharge should only be a concern if it lasts for several weeks, has a 'bad' smell, happens commonly after sex, or you're also experiencing intense pain, cramps, or itching,' the GP shared. 'This may indicate an infection and should be discussed with a medical professional.' If you notice menstrual cycle changes, mood changes, sleep disturbances, hot flushes, and/or bladder problems, you may be experiencing perimenopause. But when it comes with other symptoms, a lot of brown blood might be a sign of menstrual disorders, the GP said. PCOS, for instance, can also create heavy flows or no period at all, oily acne-prone skin, excess hair, and pain in the pelvis. 'Knowing your cycle and what's normal for you helps you understand when something might be wrong,' Dr Parmar ended. 'It's normal to experience changes during a period. But if there are any sudden and irregular variations in blood colour, flow, or duration, or if you're noticing new symptoms, it's a good idea to speak to your GP.'
The Guardian
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Quadrophenia: A Mod Ballet review – a razor-sharp reboot of the Who's rock opera
The Quadrophenia era might be 60 years old, but some things about being young haven't changed. Jimmy, the protagonist of the Who's classic album – later a film, now a ballet – brims with awkwardness and scrappy bravado. His hunger for life and his desperation to be someone are viscerally felt when the fantasy of adult life rubs up against the sometimes grubby reality. Should a ballet version of the Who's 1973 album work? Well it turns out that it does. Pete Townshend might be the man behind the Who's sound, but it's his wife, composer and orchestrator Rachel Fuller, who is in large part responsible for this. She originally orchestrated the album for the Classic Quadrophenia project a decade ago, and that's the backdrop for this show, minus vocals. The music is majestic, especially the recurring riff from Love, Reign O'er Me that does sterling dramatic work each time it appears and builds to an almighty climax as Jimmy faces crisis after the famous mods and rockers clash on Brighton beach. This is not a classical ballet, but a dance piece drawing on a number of styles, choreographed by Paul Roberts and directed by Rob Ashford. Roberts is best known from the pop world (Spice Girls, Harry Styles), Ashford from musicals, and they bring a snappy pace to the storytelling, especially in the first act, the narrative based on Townshend's original liner notes. Paris Fitzpatrick is perfectly cast as disaffected Jimmy, full of tetchy energy, and the four facets of Jimmy's personality (the 'quad' of the title) are represented by different dancers: the swooning Romantic and feral Lunatic, along with the Hypocrite and the Tough Guy, although that's a device perhaps underused. Jimmy's apparently uninterested parents are mired in their own troubles and the most poignant choreography comes in an early duet for the couple. Before they even dance, you can sense their dissatisfaction, reluctance and antipathy (in Kate Tydman's Mother especially), but slowly their defences melt into a tender ballroom hold. The best dancing, however, belongs to the mods in the club scene, all jagged shoulders and jutting chins, moves so sharp they sting like a paper cut. Royal Ballet principal Matthew Ball is parachuted in for a cameo as an arrogant rock star dressed in Paul Smith union jack jacket. Circling the stage with his tours en l'air and pirouettes, he's got the swagger but it's all too clean. The following scene though, where Ball sneers at Jimmy and his friends hankering for autographs, is painfully effective. This is a story about false idols (such as king of the mods Ace Face, who turns out to be a lowly hotel bellboy) and it's about the desperation to belong. That's mirrored across the generations when Jimmy's alcoholic dad remembers his wartime service, not only the tragedy but the lost sense of purpose and camaraderie. Smart decisions have been made about the minimal set (by Christopher Oram) and the excellent projections by YeastCulture that make a huge difference to the sense of realism: the condensation on a cafe window, the waves on Brighton seafront. All the pieces fall into place in an engrossing show that has style and substance, grit and grace. It looks like Quadrophenia is a hit once again. At Sadler's Wells, London, until 13 July. Then at the Lowry, Salford, 15-19 July
BBC News
06-06-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Pete Townshend's Quadrophenia mod ballet on tour
Musician Pete Townshend says he believes a new ballet version of his rock opera Quadrophenia will "resonate with new audiences".The co-founder of The Who is backing Quadrophenia, a Mod Ballet – based on his own music and the subsequent film about mods and rockers clashing in 1960s ballet, which had its premiere in Plymouth, is touring venues around the UK in June and told BBC South East that he thought the story of rebellion and youth culture would make a "powerfully rhythmic and emotionally engaging ballet". "The themes of young people growing up in difficult times are still so relevant," he said."It's going to be tender, poignant, poetic and epic."More than 1,000 youths fought each other between 16 and 18 May 1964 in Brighton, in scenes which were later immortalised in rock opera was released in 1973, and the 1979 film, starring Sting, Ray Winstone, Phil Daniels, Toyah Willcox and Leslie Ash was set around the East Sussex added: "Brighton has always been something special. It has a great history all of its own." The orchestration for the production was written by Townshend's wife Rachel said: "When I've written rock operas, I've always felt they were there to be exploited and changed."This ballet went into workshop with Sadler's Wells and it has landed really well. I was deeply touched by it."We're bringing rock music ethics into the ballet world." The ballet is backed by instrumental music recorded by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra."It was amazing to see people working with my music who were so young," Townshend added."This is a different take on the perennial story of a young man struggling in life to find meaning."Quadrophenia really is my baby and I'm so pleased what we managed to achieve with it."
The Guardian
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Pete Townshend remakes Quadrophenia for a new generation: ‘The world is a dangerous place at the moment'
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.' A few years on, Fuller was composing a children's ballet and met ex-Royal Ballet dancer Natalie Harrison; together a plan was hatched (Harrison is creative producer on the project). The person whose job it became to turn this much-loved piece of pop culture into dance, however, had barely heard of Quadrophenia. 'I knew the film poster,' says Paul Roberts, a choreographer who has worked with Harry Styles, Spice Girls and numerous other pop luminaries. But the team quickly started workshopping ideas, drawing on classical, contemporary and commercial dance, and brought in Tony-, Emmy- and Olivier-winning director Rob Ashford, to help shape what Townshend calls 'a compressed vision of what a lot of young men go through in their late teens and early 20s. This young guy who is bereft and lacks deep friendships and support and yet he feels part of this mod gang.' It is 60 years since the famous beachfront clash, ancient history for the dancers who are in their 20s, such as Paris Fitzpatrick, 29, who plays Jimmy. Unlike the directionless Jimmy, Fitzpatrick has been training at performing arts school since the age of 12 and gone on to an award-winning dance career. Can he relate to these characters? 'Disillusionment? We can all relate, I think,' he says. 'Being a bit lost, the search for meaning, I've experienced a lot of that.' Harrison tells me that in discussions in the studio, the young cast ended up making parallels with TV series Adolescence, 'the anger, confusion of being a young man, needing to belong'. Down the corridor in the costume room, it turns out one thing the dancers are having trouble relating to is the tightness of the suits. 'They normally wear triple XL,' laughs associate costume designer Natalie Pryce, amid the racks of Paul Smith shirts, vintage finds, polo shirts and parkas. Smith has designed the costumes, and Pryce and costume stylist Hannah Teare are putting together the wardrobe and adjusting garments for the needs of dancers. That means adding gussets under the arms and in the slim-cut trousers, accommodating dancers' muscular thighs. Vintage suits have 'no bounce', says Teare, no stretch in the fabric. They also have to double up on some items to take into account all the inevitable sweat. 'You've got to allow for the first previews and press night, where everyone's a bit more nervous,' says Pryce. Then you've got to get the details right, the correct width of lapel (narrow) and collar style (dagger), the kind of things that might pass some by 'but a mod would know that another guy passing on the street was a mod', says Teare. There are hairstyles to think about, too. A lot of the boys are reluctant to grow out their fades, says Pryce, but others are getting in the spirit. (And since there's an Oasis reunion about to happen, they might find themselves at the height of fashion.) 'The look was the manifesto,' says Townshend of the mod movement. And the suits, in fact, were instrumental in shaping the actual dancing the mods did in the 60s ('Pete got up and showed us some moves,' says Roberts. 'There's one where he flicks his leg out, we've stolen that.') 'Because they invested so much into what they were wearing, it's very poised, very collected, super minimal,' Roberts demonstrates a subtle groove. 'You want to keep your tie straight, your shirt tails tucked in,' adds Ashford, and God forbid you mess up your hair. But there was an edge, a sense of the caged animal about it. The energy inside that composure was 'scruffy and hectic', says Roberts, 'wild and messy energy contained in a sort of box of self-consciousness' is how Fitzpatrick puts it. 'About as far from classical ballet as you can get.' Everyone on the production raves about Fitzpatrick as Jimmy (he's best known for dancing the lead in Matthew Bourne's Romeo and Juliet). 'He has this fragility, this rawness to him,' says Roberts. It's the lost boy look in his deep brown eyes. In the show, four other dancers embody the four facets of Jimmy's personality that he's grappling with – the Romantic, the Hypocrite, the Tough Guy, the Lunatic – trying to make sense of who he is. Also recently added to the cast is Royal Ballet principal Matthew Ball, as Godfather. Harrison tells me she was watching him in rehearsal leaping around the room. 'It was electric,' she says. 'You know how suddenly the stars align? It was like Pete's guitar playing happening as a full-body experience.' Sign up to Inside Saturday The only way to get a look behind the scenes of the Saturday magazine. Sign up to get the inside story from our top writers as well as all the must-read articles and columns, delivered to your inbox every weekend. after newsletter promotion Fuller has written the scenario based on Townshend's original liner notes (rather than a rehash of the film) and without lyrics or text; making sure the storytelling is clear was paramount for her: 'I've been to a few dance things, and I'm like: this is great but I've literally got no idea what's going on.' Never being much of a dance person in the past, 'what surprised me is that I've been able to make a real connection with it,' she says. Townshend already liked dance. 'I'm a big fan of ballet. I go quite a lot,' he says. He talks about a scene between Jimmy's troubled parents. 'When they move together it's absolutely powerful and poignant. You couldn't do it with words.' When Townshend first saw some of the movement Roberts had made to his music, 'I was struck by the fact that I was being drawn back to my mid-20s by these boys, who had a physical way of expressing the missing lyrics. It felt like it was drawn from deep inside these young dancers. And I found it incredibly moving.' The 1960s was a different world, the inheritance of the postwar generation and the heralding of huge social change. 'But it became clear there was a link between the kids that I grew up with and the similar issues, frustrations, difficulties that young men are facing today,' says Townshend. 'The world is in a dangerous place at the moment.' Fuller was determined that the ballet shouldn't be set in the modern day, but in a way, says Townshend, that's what's happening. 'It's being brought into the modern day by the dancers. There are a couple of times when I've had tears in my eyes,' he says. 'And that's not because I'm listening to my own music,' he smiles, 'it's because it feels like it belongs to this new gang.' There's so much mythology around the mod movement. 'The most dramatic pictures taken in the beach fights? The press set it up,' says Townshend. 'Got a couple of rockers to jump off [the prom]. And according to a few of my mates from the day, they were paid 10 quid to smash up some deckchairs. Most of the mods didn't want to muck up their clothes fighting.' And the movement itself was transitory. 'It was very, very strong and very, very powerful when it was there,' says Townshend. 'But it only lasted about two and a half years.' Quadrophenia, by contrast, is still thriving. Quadrophenia: A Mod Ballet is at Theatre Royal, Plymouth, Wednesday to 1 June; touring to 19 July.
Scotsman
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Rachel Fuller on creating the soundtrack for Quadrophenia, a Mod Ballet: 'the whole thing has felt magical'
Rachel Fuller's moment of epiphany came when she wrote a children's ballet during lockdown, she tells Fiona Shepherd Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... When Pete Townsend originally wrote Quadrophenia in the early 1970s, he heard the music in his head as a fully orchestrated suite. Unable to read music, he used the (superb) instruments at this disposal – Keith Moon's drums, John Entwistle's bass, Roger Daltrey's voice and his own guitar - to convey his vision. In 2015, the iconic 'mod opera' was finally reinvented as Classic Quadrophenia, an album and concert tour with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and singers Alfie Boe and Billy Idol, with arrangements by Townsend's wife, the composer Rachel Fuller. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Rachel Fuller and Pete Townsend pictured at the 77th Tony Awards in New York, 16 June 2024 | AFP via Getty Images 'I stayed really faithful to the original format,' says Fuller. 'I tried to arrange in a way that I felt Pete would do, so I didn't change keys or mess around with the melodic lines. Often I would listen to John Entwistle's bassline and I would score the double basses exactly to what he was playing.' The roots of Quadrophenia's latest rebirth came when Townsend first heard Fuller's instrumental demos and remarked that the score would make a great ballet soundtrack. 'I'd never been to the ballet,' says Fuller. 'It was not something I particularly connected with. I don't have a graceful bone in my body.' Fuller's classical dance epiphany came when she wrote a children's ballet called Bee in lockdown. Armed with contacts in the field and a new appreciation of the form, she picked up on Townsend's original impulse, repurposing her orchestral arrangement without vocals to produce the soundtrack for Quadrophenia, a Mod Ballet. Pete Townshend of The Who on stage at Granby Hall, Leicester, 18 October 1975 | Getty Images Fuller hopes it will resonate with ballet and non-ballet fans alike. 'I think the story of a teenage boy who's struggling with identity, with sense of self, with belonging, with fitting in, it's a universal story that people are going to connect with, especially young men who are going through a similar thing.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Fuller has her own affinity with the theme of not fitting in, having only recently been diagnosed with ADHD after a childhood of being 'seen as a fidgety girl who talked too much and found it hard to focus and pay attention. As a result of that I internalised everything and ended up with chronic anxiety by the age of ten.' Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend of The Who perform at the Capitol Theater, Passaic, New Jersey on 10 September 1979. | Getty Images Fuller found respite in music, forging a career mainly as a composer and arranger. She also released an album of her own songs in 2004 but feels she has put her singer/songwriter days to bed. 'My voice doesn't match up with my personality,' she says. 'In person, I'm quite loud and vulgar, but when I sing I sound like a nun. Maybe because my brain is wired slightly differently and I think outside the box it's particularly suited to composing and arranging orchestras so I think it's been part of my creative journey.' As for her work on Quadrophenia, a Mod Ballet, she says 'the whole thing has felt magical. Our hope is that people have a good night out, that they can put their life on a hook and be present and have their soul moved. People can sing along – I'm hoping they won't, but inside they might!' Quadrophenia, a Mod Ballet is at Edinburgh Festival Theatre from 10-14 June Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad This feature was produced in association with Capital Theatres WIN: £400 PAUL SMITH PRIZE DRAW WITH HARVEY NICHOLS Everyone who buys a ticket for Quadrophenia: A Mod Ballet at the Festival Theatre will be entered into a prize draw to win £400 credit and a Personal Shopping experience in Paul Smith at Harvey Nichols, Edinburgh, see
