Described as a dance theatre event, Rambert’s Peaky Blinders: The Redemption of Thomas Shelby is so much more than that. It’s a multi sensory experience and one that remains with you long after the curtain has come down. I didn’t see the successful TV series and wondered if that might be a real hindrance. In the end, it didn’t matter a jot.
The narrative, written by Steve Knight who was also responsible for the TV series, focuses on a 1920s gangster family, the Shelbys, living in Birmingham. It follows them through fights, factories, falling in love and life-changing tragedy. It’s a spectacular looking production with minimal but effective sets by Moi Tran and numerous, lavish costumes evocative of the era by Richard Gellar. Lighting by Natasha Chivers plays an enormous part in immersing the audience in the dark, criminal underworld of the time.
The music, to a commissioned score by Roman GianArthur, and played live on stage by Yaron Engler, Joe Downard and Mitchel Emms, is the driving force behind Benoit Swan Pouffer’s pacy choreography. Set as a prequel to the television series, it begins in the trenches of First World War Flanders, introducing the main characters and the trauma that binds them together in the life that follows.
At this performance, the atmosphere was intoxicating, the characters brilliantly drawn and the essence of the story deeply affecting. As the late Benjamin Zephaniah’s voice boomed across the auditorium at the end of the first scene, ‘…you young men of the tunnelling brigade, you are all dead. Not counted among the dead because your bodies were not buried with the dead, but dead inside…’, a serious chill settled over the audience. Like a leitmotif, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds’ Red Right Hand, was most memorable in the closing sequence.
It was when Tommy (Conor Kerrigan), Peaky Blinders’ gang leader, met and fell in love with Grace (a stunning Naya Lovell) that we became more invested in the characters. Unforgettable too, were the police ‘dogs’ in one of many chases. The ‘Blood Wedding’ which ended the first half was unexpected but tremendously impactful.
The second half began with Kerrigan delivering a heart wrenching solo which I feared he wouldn’t recover from. Emotionally raw and appearing to be visibly drained, he threw himself into his grief with believable gravitas. As he sunk into an opium induced state of hallucination – the rest of the ensemble floated around him in what was a slightly surreal sequence of graceful, slo-mo lifts.
Back in gangster land, there was more fighting with clever, choreographed beatings and rapid exchanges of aggression – one wondered how the impeccable dancers avoided injury.
Apart from the sensuous duets between Grace and Tommy, the most exciting scenes were for the ensemble. Even on the battlefield, Pouffer builds slowly, with almost imperceptible marching steps, up to a frenetic crescendo. The nightclub where Grace sings was also a languorous slow burn. The final scene of the show was simply stupendous in terms of choreography and outstanding delivery of it.
Of course, without the dancers to populate the characters, a piece like this wouldn’t succeed in the way that it has. Rambert is known for its individuals – there is no particular uniformity or conformity. Coke López de la Madrid as the lascivious Factory Foreman lingers in the mind as a lecherous sleaze bag. Simone Damberg Würtz, as the rather terrifying Polly Gray, impressed with her acting as much as her dancing.
However, for all the slick performances on offer, it was Lovell and Kerrigan who scaled the heights in singularly exceptional depictions of their roles. Lovell has a liquid style of movement, ideal for this role and her face conveys easily her thoughts and feelings. Kerrigan gave a powerful account of the troubled Tommy, getting right under the skin of the gangster.
Peaky Blinders is coming to the end of a three year run and we have been advised that it is unlikely to return to London. So go! You will not be disappointed and you will come away feeling that you have been on the adventure of a lifetime.
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