Peaky Blinders: The Redemption of Thomas Shelby
Rambert Dance
Wales Millennium Centre
By Shaun Tougher
AS A Peaky Blinders addict (I binged the BBC TV series in lockdown) and a lover of modern dance it was a no brainer to go and see this show at the WMC.
The show is a collaboration between Steven Knight (the creator of the TV series) and Rambert Dance (a celebrated British contemporary dance company), choreographed and directed by Benoit Swan Pouffer.
The TV show tells the story of Thomas Shelby returning to Birmingham in the aftermath of World War One, during which he fought for King and Country, and embracing a life of crime and politics.
Picture: Johan Persson
This family crime saga ran for six series (2013-2022), and featured a talented cast, most famously Cillian Murphy as Tommy and the late Helen McCrory as Aunt Polly.
For the dance show the creators have wisely eschewed trying to cover the entire span of the TV series, sensibly focusing on Tommy’s experiences on the front, his return to Birmingham, the setting up of the family business and the story of Tommy’s romance with Grace Burgess and its aftermath.
It ends with a note of reconciliation, though viewers of the TV series know of further trauma to come.
Picture: Johan Persson
It is simplest to be direct: this show is a triumph. The staging, design, lighting, music (a live band features on stage) and above all the performances are thrilling, captivating, inventive and delightful.
The show is divided into clear and varied segments, and stand outs were the nightclub sequence when Tommy first meets Grace, and the opium addict sequence.
Vastly enjoyable too was the appearance of fairground horses and police dogs, as well as a rat.
Picture: Johan Persson
Despite big shoes to fill the dancers stamp themselves on their roles, notably Joseph Kudra as Tommy (muscular and athletic) and Caití Carpenter as Polly (chic and powerful), but the whole cast is astonishing.
At the conclusion of the show the audience were on their feet clapping and whooping, even those who had never seen the TV show.
I have never experienced anything like it. It’s a show I immediately wanted to see again.
Wales Millennium Centre Until March 25.
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