After The Applause

If I could give this a sixth star I would..

Rambert Dance’s Peaky Blinders – The Redemption of Thomas Shelby has to go down as my show of 2025 without a doubt. I actually can’t quite comprehend what I have seen. It is perfection in every manner and I implore all of you readers to go watch it, you will certainly not be disappointed.

When I saw Peaky Blinders was being adapted for the stage I was excited, when I saw it was a ballet my excitement drained and I gave it a skip. When it was announced at Sadlers Wells for a rerun I was intrigued and thought I should give it a go. All the pre-judgements I had about Peaky Blinders performed as a ballet were slashed away and I think it is one of the best adaptations for stage I have had the joy of seeing.

First of all the story itself is brilliant, it retains all the violence of the series and just the general vibe and feeling of an episode of Peaky Blinders. What I enjoyed was Steven Knight’s choice to introduce some new elements of characters into the production that would have been hard to write about, and are much better discovered through the medium of choreography (such as Thomas’ extreme PTSD that follows him around throughout his life). The story is centred around the main man Tommy Shelby, and it goes through a whistle stop tour of the founding and background of the Peaky Blinders gang, soundtracked to some iconic songs from the series such as ‘Red Right Hand’ and ‘Devil Inside of me’ (but more on the soundtrack later). The story is great, however, the choreography is stunning and simply jaw dropping, superbly masterminded by Benoit Swan Pouffer who combines the flow of ballet with aggression and fighting in such a naturalistic and seamless way. Every movement is thought out or timed to a certain instrument, and it just makes for this spectacle of perfection flowing around the Sadler Well’s stage. Whilst Peaky Blinders is well known for rock and fast paced music, composer Roman Gianarthur creates wonderful calming tracks about love or pain in the key points of Tommy’s life, and Pouffer directs his dancers in such a manner that they easily transition from frenzy into calm and emotion.

The staging is sublime, absolutely brilliant. Moi Tran creates a stage with a large trench running around it. I imagined this was to present Tommy’s constant PTSD in which he has to try to jump over the trenches that his tragic war memories have dug in his brain. The stage is then decorated, as objects lower from the ceiling to transport us from Flanders Fields to a dingy Birmingham Factory in matters of seconds. It is also just a simple black stage and it looks cool which, again definitely matches the vibe of the Peaky Blinders style and swagger.

Natasha Chivers, I am sure, enjoyed her own choreography of the lights to illuminate the ever flowing bodies of the dancers and to match the beat of the music, whether it be heavy metal or a beautiful piano and cello duet. The lighting in the opening scene was probably some of the best I have seen in a stage production, it was so complex and ever changing yet it helped evoke the feelings of anger and war so perfectly that you cannot take your eyes off it.

I was a big fan of the music in the series, and when I found out that the show would be soundtracked in a similar manner, I was pleased. What I didn’t know is that it was going to be performed by a live band at the back of the stage, and oh my gosh they were absolutely remarkable. It worked so well as I watch two dancers acrobatically fight, and in the distance I see Yaron Engler brutally beating the drums with Mitchel Emms displaying a wide array of vocals. All three of them were just brilliant and it felt so perfect for a Peaky Blinders show to have the live band there.

Narrative can be often lost in a ballet, so the use of audio excerpts from the show as well as pre-recorded lines by Benjamin Zephaniah, help the audience to comprehend what is happening on the stage.

So the production quality is absolutely outstanding, but what about the wonderful cast of dancers?

Well Rambert Dance are not renowned for no reason because my word do they put on a show, I have to applaud each and every one of them for not only effortlessly executing Pouffer’s beautifully complex choreography, but also managing to add another layer of acting and emotion on top of that. Their facial expressions are naturalistic and their body language is consistent, they are not only incredible dancers but their acting was consistent throughout and it helped gain constant engagement from the large audience in the theatre.

Guillaume Queau is perfection as Tommy Shelby as he evokes all the emotions we see in Cillian Murphy’s portrayal, whilst dynamically manouvering to the music that reverberates around the auditorium. His physicality is imposing, however, he allows himself to slack as he romantically dances with Naya Lovell, playing his lover Grace as she steals his secrets and his heart. Lovell is superb as Grace, and her acting when she is shot was heartbreaking, and the duo combine brilliantly as lovers in their passionate dances over Gianarthur’s new sounds. I love all of the main cast of brothers (Connor Kerrigan who does a wonderfully accurate Arthur Shelby scream at the end, Jau’mair Garland and Tom Davis-Dunn) who are aggressive and violent throughout.

The ensemble combine as a unit to pain several different portraits on the stage whether that be Tommy’s love or Opium induced dreams as he seeks an escape from the hole left gaping in his heart after Grace’s death. I especially liked Dylan Tedali who played a disgusting Factory Foreman and leads the ensemble as Dance Captain, he certainly caught my eye from the beginning.

MY VERDICT:

I never thought I would say this when I booked this show, but this is certainly my show of the year. It is such a beautiful piece of art that has been created and collaborated on to make sure it does not disappoint. I never thought when I watched Peaky Blinders on TV, that it would transform so perfectly into a ballet but it really does. It helps that the production quality is so high such as the wonderful choice of a live band, or the multiple brilliantly detailed costumes designed exquisitely by Richard Gellar that look as though the characters have stepped out of a screen. I have been so rocked by this show in such a manner that it occupies my mind. I wish I could relive my first time watching it because it energised me and just wowed me in every single aspect. I loved the interview with Steven Knight in which he told people to ‘reserve judgement’ about it being a ballet and just ‘reserve tickets’ and that is exactly what I am saying to you now. Even if you are not familiar with the tv show, you will be completely enthralled and engrossed in the story, and if you don’t think you like ballet you will definitely have your opinion changed. I would say this is a perfect mix of ballet and just brilliantly choreographed sections of movement that are better than a long winding script, because it highlights the important bits and I think that’s why I enjoyed it so much.

It truly is incredible, so now I tell you again, in the words of the man who created it and the lead character…….

‘reserve judgement and reserve your tickets, by order of the peaky blinders’!

Peaky Blinders- The Redemption of Thomas Shelby is playing at the Sadler’s Wells Theatre (near Angel tube station) until the 16th August with good availability. This is certainly a must see in my opinion, however it will definitely run again as it is such a popular fixture in the west end