Nominated for Spirit of Raindance Award
Rambert’s thrilling stage adaptation “The Redemption of Thomas Shelby” written by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight, with direction and choreography by Rambert’s artistic director Benoit Swan Pouffer, performed by the captivating Rambert dancers to an iconic soundtrack.
A Rambert Dance and North South Production in association with The Space for BBC.
Inspired by the television series Peaky Blinders created by Steven Knight and produced by Caryn Mandabach Productions.
Original Stage Production produced in association with Birmingham Hippodrome.
Co-produced with The Lowry.
Many festivalgoers will already be familiar with how Steven Knight transformed the true story of an obscure British Army tunnelling squad turned global criminal gang into an epic disquisition on power, justice, mercy, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
This gory, sexy, high-energy prequel, written by Knight and choreographed by Benoit Swan Pouffer, further heightens the television programme’s most theatrical elements to create a powerful, dizzying spectacle. However, it is far more than a filmed dance performance, with Matt Hargreaves’s cameras moving right through the troupe to provide a high sense of immediacy.
Richard Gellar’s costumes include everything we’ve come to expect from the Peaky franchise, but he adds new touches including some terrifying dancers-as-Dobermans; and Moi Tran’s clever minimalist sets, which make excellent use of light and smoke, include a truly eerie opium den.
Powerful voiceovers by the late Benjamin Zephaniah, the noted Birmingham poet who played Jeremiah in the TV version, articulates the main theme: that the tunnellers, though ‘not buried with the dead, are dead inside.’ There’s superb dance and emotive work, especially from Guillame Quéau as Tommy, Conor Kerrigan as Arthur and Angélique Blasco as Polly.
The stage show will tour from September this year until May 2025.
Review by Daniel MacCannell
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