Inventive and visually spectacular
The doors leading into Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre are papered with advice of being “under new management, by order of the Peaky Blinders”, and inside, staff are wearing the unmistakable flat cap uniform immortalised in the eponymous BBC drama series. The Redemption of Thomas Shelby, a stage adaptation by Rambert Dance, leans heavy on the appeal of the source material from the outset.
Over the course of two acts, we’re introduced to Tommy Shelby (a dynamic Conor Kerrigan), and his Peaky Blinders, as they encounter the horrors of WW1, and their underground operations upon their return. Whilst Steven Knight’s story is heavily involved with the TV show, those new to the Shelbys would still find this enjoyable. For those familiar with the first series of the TV show, we’re given an slightly alternative version of events, at seemingly breakneck speed, where Tommy meets Grace (fittingly graceful Naya Lovell), in a jazz club, and she betrays him, and they marry, and she’s caught in the crossfire by an avenging widow. This act flies by, and whilst dancing is beautifully choreographed by Benoit Swan Pouffer, and performed, we lose a bit of the storytelling, particularly around Grace’s character and her motivation. The characterisation of Arthur (Dylan Tedaldi), Polly (a scene-stealing Simone Damberg Würtz) and Ada (Adél Bálint) also felt lacking in comparison to their screen counterparts.
Act 2 follows Tommy in an opium fuelled grief, before a tragic end to another of the Shelbys and Tommy’s determination to continue. The There are some lovely repeated motifs throughout the show, such as the coin flips, to showcase Tommy’s decision making, but the abstract and gymnastically balletic opium dreams with Barney (Max Day) felt overlong, in comparison to the pace of the rest of the show.
Throughout, the staging and lighting is almost cinematic in parts – at any chosen point, it feels like the dancers could be caught in a portrait worthy shot. Use of side lighting, coloured smoke, and almost stadium-esque lighting, adds to the allure of each scene. Playful touches such as the use of carousel horses to illustrate the race-rigging are a innovative notion, as well as the design of the stage itself. A raised horseshoe shaped stage, enclosing a square main stage, with a sizeable gap between the two, used to good effect by the dancers in their depictions of fight scenes, jazz club dancing, and even as a WW1 trench, and leapt across and beyond with agility.
The band (comprised of musical director Yarron Engler, Joe Downard and Mitchel Emms) were a highlight of the performance, full of swagger, howling guitar riffs, combined with rock and grunge elements. Roman GianArthur’s compositions well befitting the gritty dark underbelly of the Shelby organisation – “Not My Gun”and “Hands to Myself” being personal favourites, along with the addition of curated additional tracks and the signature growly theme song, Nick Cave and the Bad Seed’s “Red Right Hand”. Having the band present at the back of the stage was a bold move, often in moody spotlight and added a sense of electricity to the live and recorded tracks, and having the full list of music credits in the programme is a welcome touch too.
The use of intermittent narration from Jeremiah (the late Benjamin Zephaniah) provided valuable context to the performance, but whilst the sound in general was of high quality, although some of the voice over intercepts were a touch distorted (whether by intent or not) and that did hamper comprehension at times. It was also unclear why Tom Hardy’s Alfie Solomon was heard saying ‘I’ve heard very bad bad bad things about you Birmingham people” when this character didn’t appear in the show, but this wouldn’t be apparent if you hadn’t watched the show.
Overall, this is a visually sublime performance, that aficionados of Peaky Blinders will enjoy, as well as newcomers. Given the constraints of time, it’s not possible to fit such a lore-rich show into a neat 2 acts, but I felt the storytelling was slightly too shallow in order to fit so much in, and the accomplished performances from those on stage deserved something a little deeper to work with. Notwithstanding, the impact of the staging and the performance is something to celebrate.
Rambert Dance in Peaky Blinders: The Redemption of Thomas Shelby is playing in Edinburgh from 01 – 05 October