A STYLISH RE-TELLING OF THE GRUESOME GOINGS-ON IN GARRISON LANE

By Madeleine Anderson ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Press Invite

Clashing metal music, sharp dancing and masculine bravado bring the cult-hit of Peaky Blinders to the stage for the first time.  

Swaggering soldiers stand spread across the stage as heavy rock music is played live by three just-visible musicians, standing at the back of the dark and smokey stage. With this atmospheric start Rambert, Britain’s leading contemporary dance company, launches a balletic-take of the machismo and mayhem of 1920s Birmingham.

Even if you haven’t seen the show, the Peaky Blinders ‘look’ has become more iconic than the storyline itself, and from the first move it is clear that Tommy Shelby (Connor Kerrigan) is leader of the pack.

Written by the TV series creator Steven Wright, The Redemption of Thomas Shelby keeps the tone and menace of the BBC hit-show. The performance begins with Tommy leading a group of young soldiers in the trenches of WW1, with the voice of the late Benjamin Zepheniah (who played the role of the preacher Jeremiah ‘Jimmy’ Jesus in the show) narrating the robotic movements of the soldiers who are mechanically engaged in the violence of war.

The scene soon shifts to Birmingham and to the dark-underworld of crime and chaos where Tommy still leads. Each move is marked by a sharp slash from a guitar, often matched with the slash of a throat, with more violence the only reliable next-step in the performance.

The dance moves become less chiseled as Tommy and his family members show a collective confidence as they pace their local streets. Whilst the individual characterisation of each performer is impressive, the strength of the large-scale familial dances is what keeps the performance alive.

From flapper dancing in the nightclub, to horse betting and flirtatious exchanges that soon turn bloody, each scene is full of energy that keeps fizzing, before choppily moving into quieter scenes where a brooding Tommy is either dancing alone or with Grace (played by Naya Lovell), whose precise and light movements standout even amongst a large and busily moving cast.

The staging makes use of a raised platform, which at times help dancers to menacingly drop to their deaths and later re-appear, but also mean some subtler moves are hidden from the audience.

The mass scale of the dances is at times exciting and energised, but at other points feels too busy and without purpose, particularly at the end of the first half. But, the performance picks up again in the second act, when Tommy is in the depths of a heady opium addiction, which is displayed through captivating costume changes and a slower dance pace which give more for the audience to lean into and enjoy.

Bringing a TV series with a cult-following as big as Peaky Blinders was always going to be a risk but with Peaky Blinders: The Redemption of Thomas Shelby, the risk paid off. Even if the purpose and pace of the performance occasionally fell flat, the performance remained compelling, and is a stylish re-telling of the gruesome goings-on in Garrison Lane.

Peaky Blinders: The Redemption of Thomas Shelby is at Sadler’s Wells theatre now until August 14, with a running time of 2 hours 10 minutes.

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Photo Credit: Beatrice Livet