REVIEW: Peaky Blinders The Redemption of Thomas Shelby - Murder on the dance floor at Birmingham Hippodrome

It must be one of the most explosive starts to a dance show ever.

The heavy beat from the live rock band filled a packed Birmingham Hippodrome from the back of the stage, semi-hidden behind a black curtain, as all eyes fell on the dancers whose movements were somehow almost more louder and powerful than the music as they recreated the horror of the battles in the World War I trenches.

Our men, Tommy Shelby and crew were soon announced dead, but still alive - befitting one of the most potent themes of the drama based on the real life gangs of interwar Birmingham - many of whom returned home after the war shattered with trauma.

These weren’t the moves you might see in Snobs on a Saturday night - or even Strictly or the Masked Dancer for that matter - this dance was deeply emotive, strong, athletic with an iconic Brummie tale to tell. Even Troy Deeney and some of the other Birmingham City players came to see it on Wednesday (September 28).

The Redemption of Thomas Shelby relates the Peaky Blinders story like never before - written by the Birmingham-born creator Steven Knight and Rambert Dance choreographer and director Benoit Swan Pouffer it is a thrilling new interpretation of the drama with the characters who have won worldwide fame.

The heroes have the same traits, but with live music and dance their journey on stage somehow doesn’t need actions and words.

We hear the voice of Aunt Polly played by the late Helen McCrory in scenes. The narrative is related by Birmingham poet Benjamin Zephaniah, who plays Jeremiah Jesus in the TV series.

The mesmerising music score was written by American Roman Gian Arthur and performed live by The Last Morrell, James Douglas and Yaron Engler. The music includes a new track from Birmingham’s Laura Mvula and features iconic songs from the television series and music from Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, Radiohead, Anna Calvi, The Last Shadow Puppets, Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, to name but a few.

But it is the Rambert dancers working with the powerful music that bring the Peaky Blinders story to a whole new level.

Guillaume Queau emanates Tommy Shelby’s enigmatic aura, the scenes with Grace, danced by Naya Lovell are heartbreaking, Conor Kerrigan’s Arthur, Simone Damberg Würtz and Adél Bálint’s Ada were magnificent - as were all the dancers from Rambert, Britain’s first dance company formed in 1926 which prides itself in giving daring people the chance to inspire others and give them power to change the world for the better.

Rambert first visited Birmingham in the 1930s, and it’s possible that some of the original Peaky Blinders may have even come to see the show.

So if it was good enough for the Peaky Blinders back then, here’s your chance to experience some world class dance. If you’re a Peaky Blinders fan you will love it. And if you’re not, then here’s your chance to experience a real life taste of the Brummie phenomenon that has got the world talking.

The show is at Birmingham Hippodrome, which jointly produced The Redemption of Thomas Shelby with Rambert Dance, until Sunday, October 2 - and it’s back again on May 23 to 27 following a national tour. To find out more and buy tickets go to the Birmingham Hippodrome website.

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