There can be no doubt the Peaky Blinders brand is box office gold – six TV series, an ‘immersive experience’ and a Netflix movie in the making are testament to the enduring appeal of Birmingham’s gangster drama. So, you could be forgiven thinking this dance version from Rambert is little more than a gimmick to win new audiences.
The fact this ambitious dance show is touring for the second time in as many years hopefully tells you otherwise. While some might say there were few better ways for the Rambert to fill seats, there certainly would have been easier ones.
Peaky Blinders: The Redemption of Thomas Shelby is Rambert’s biggest show in its near 100-year history and it feels epic in scale.

There’s always a challenge when bringing something new to the familiar, but fans can be reassured their favourite characters are in good hands with a story written by the original series creator, Steven Knight.
Set as a prequel to the BBC show – how Thomas Shelby and his brothers came to be the men we know – it opens in 1916 with graphic scenes of fighting in the trenches of the Somme. Rambert’s Artistic Director and choreographer Benoit Swan Pouffer holds nothing back from the audience, giving the action a filmic quality which moves at pace.
We’re taken from the horrors of war to the heady atmosphere of a 1920s nightclub, where Tommy (Conor Kerrigan) falls for singer Grace (Naya Lovell) and a tragic love-story begins.
Fans of the show will recognise central characters like Arthur (Dylan Tedaldi), Polly (Simone Damberg Würtz) and Ada (Adél Bálint), but even if you’ve never seen a single episode the essence of the story is easy to follow with the use of some explanatory narration voiced by the late poet, Benjamin Zephaniah, who played a street preacher in the TV show.

An immersive, contemporary score by Roman GianArthur played live on stage, provides an added layer driving the action. There are also recognisable songs from the Peaky soundtrack from Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, Radiohead and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. It’s not until the curtain call that we realise this rock gig sound has been created by only three musicians: Yarron Engler (drums, percussion, vocals), Joe Downward (Cello, bass, vocals) and Mitchell Emms (vocals, guitar, keys).

There is so much happening on stage at any one time that you can’t take it all in. But striking throughout is the strength and grace of Rambert’s talented dancers whose performances bring both emotional intensity and a highly stylised edge to this visual storytelling.
It’s a thrilling ride with carousel race horses, punk police dogs, gun weilding women, blazing buildings and centre of it all the iconic Thomas Shelby.
If you like Peaky Blinders – go. If you like Rambert – go. Or just go anyway – it’s a helluva spectacle.
Peaky Blinders: The Redemption of Thomas Shelby is at Lowry, Salford from 22 to 26 October 2024. Age recommendation 15+