Reflections on Sunny Afternoon from Director Edward Hall
as told through The Kinks’ brilliant lyrics
“What are we living for? / Two‑roomed apartment
on the second floor / No money coming in
The rent collector’s knocking, tryna get in”
—Dead End Street
Ray and Dave Davies were part of a strong working-class community in North London, which reminds me in many ways of Chicago—a city of neighborhoods with very tight-knit communities. Sunny Afternoon charts the journey from these teenagers’ bedroom all the way to the stage of Madison Square Gardens. And on that journey, you see these brothers become rock ‘n’ roll superstars whilst trying to stay true to themselves and to their music.
“His clothes are loud, but never square / It will make or break him, so he’s got to buy the best
‘Cause he’s a dedicated follower of fashion”
—Dedicated Follower of Fashion
Each one of The Kinks’ songs is a beautifully written little novel. That is the genius of Ray Davies. In the ‘60s, there was an explosion of big fashion and new music with bands like The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, The Who—and then you had The Kinks: a band that created a totally new, hard rock sound by famously cutting up an amplifier speaker in their bedroom. The Kinks wrote music about real people, about everyday people’s lives and their issues, and they constantly rebelled against an industry that wanted them to conform and keep writing commercial pop.
“Dirty old river, must you keep rolling / Flowing into the night /
People so busy, makes me feel dizzy Taxi light shines so bright /
But I don’t need no friends / As long as I gaze on Waterloo sunset I am in paradise”
—Waterloo Sunset
This production delves into how great music is made. There’s a moment when we recreate the writing of “Waterloo Sunset.” We explore how a sound starts to slowly surface with a baseline, then the addition of melody on a backing vocal, a kick on the drum, a lick on the guitar… and then it’s suddenly magic. The chords to the song are not complicated, but it is the connection between the players and the atmosphere that they create that makes it so special. The story also takes us behind the scenes in the music business, a source of constant fascination. How is it possible to survive the music industry, the publishing, the stardom? As we know, it isn’t always possible… but somehow, The Kinks held onto the most important thing that gave them their identity—the music.
“Days I’ll remember all my life / Days when you can’t see wrong from right / You took my life
But then I knew that very soon you’d leave me.”
—Days
Joe Penhall’s book for Sunny Afternoon is direct and honest about who these musicians were and how they made it, navigating many trials and tribulations along the way. The differences that the band had, particularly the brothers Ray and Dave, are confronted in a totally uncompromising way. It’s the story of a complex and dysfunctional group of people who only ever clicked when they made music. Thousands and thousands of musicians can play The Kinks’ songs, but only The Kinks can play them in a way that creates that irresistible atmosphere around the music. Ray fought very hard to keep the band together over the years because he understood that when they were together they had a shorthand, a vibe if you like…a feeling which you can’t really put into words. That drama at the heart of it, the brilliance and beauty of the music, and the thrilling sense of event of seeing this show is what makes it such a compelling project for me.
“And I love to live so pleasantly /
Live this life of luxury / Lazin’ on a sunny afternoon”
—Sunny Afternoon
In every possible detail, we are trying to faithfully recreate live onstage the sound of The Kinks in concert back in the ‘60s and ‘70s—and our Musical Director Elliott Ware is a connoisseur of that. My only musical experiences of The Kinks came from mono compressed recordings on analog records and my little 45s. That all changed when we plugged up original ‘60s Vox valve amps with the right guitars and cranked everything up. I mean the air actually moved. It was such an intense experience and it’s this that we serve up to you—a truly sonic feast of Kinks.
Photo Credit: Trinity Mirror / Mirrorpix / Alamy Stock Photo