The Battle of Blythe Road is a rock musical based loosely on the artists and weirdos of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. The Order was active at the turn of the 20th century, but their fascination with the occult and belief in the power of art to spur social change have resurfaced over and over again throughout history. The show uses music to connect the Order to the punks and hippies of the 1970s and the online activists of the post-Covid world. The show asks: why do these waves of interest in the occult keep happening, despite evidence that magic isn’t real? Why is social change always one step forward, two steps back? An exploration of faith, social progress, and humanity’s desire to find explanations for the world around them, The Battle of Blythe Road examines our determination to get in our own way — and asks what we can do to escape the cycles of history.