PEAKY BLINDERS: THE REDEMPTION OF THOMAS SHELBY

Sadler’s Wells Theatre

★★★★

“a mesmerising cacophony of movement”

Welcome to the show! No phones. No photos. And NO. F—ING. FIGHTING.

Thomas Shelby has survived the war and is free to do as he pleases. At least until he is pursued by the law, a woman and death itself. How will he fight back?

This dance iteration of Peaky Blinders is written by the series’ creator Steven Knight with direction and choreography by Rambert’s Artistic Director Benoit Swan Pouffer. The story starts in Flanders, where Thomas and his brothers face the devastation of WW1 on the front lines. Pouffer’s direction is cinematic, epic and foreboding. The sound design (Moshik Kop) simultaneously pins your body to your seat and absorbs your mind into the space. A trench cracks open and soldiers drag their bodies into the light. Spotlights direct the spectator’s gaze amongst a swarm of combatting performers. Immediately you understand that the laws of physics do not apply to Rambert’s dancers. They leap and soar as if they have never been incumbered by the burden of gravity. Featuring the soundtrack from the series (musical direction by Yaron Engler), you will certainly require your red right hand to pick your jaw up from the floor. This show is grand, sexy and gives you a craving for whiskey.

The lawless Shelby brothers have returned from the war and are known as the Peaky Blinders. They are bookmakers, money launderers and occasional protectors of their fellow man. Knight’s stage adaptation focuses on the relationship between Thomas, the Peaky Blinders’ leader, and Grace – the woman with a gun who could steal more than his secrets. Narrowing the focus of the story for the purpose of translating it to dance does come with its setbacks. For fans of the series, Thomas’ life is reduced to a romantic tragedy. For those who are encountering the story for the first time, there is an obvious lack of visibility of Thomas’ brothers as the show progresses. In both cases, this unfortunately makes it difficult for the audience to feel the full emotional depth of the events transpiring onstage.

Despite this lapse in storytelling, Knight and Pouffer have done a brilliant job of capturing the mood and aesthetic that we associate with Peaky Blinders. The first act fully immerses us in Birmingham as it is experienced by the Shelby brothers. With Moi Tran’s set designs and Richard Gellar’s costumes, the world of the TV series is reimagined for the stage. Dancers become units in a production line of a factory. Carousel horses are paraded around the ring before they are mounted and raced by jockeys. Burlesque dancers take us to a nightclub. Tran’s design of the raised stage allows Pouffer to be expansive with his direction and the dancers to move on multiple plains. The result is a mesmerising cacophony of movement, made up of duets and solos that sporadically come together to create a snapshot of the ensemble.

The first act has the tenacity of a pub brawl. The second act is the tremble of aftershock. There is a significant shift in pacing. Thomas Shelby (Conor Kerrigan) is the centrepiece of the longer dance sequences, and he is at magnificent full force. There is a satisfying similitude between Thomas’ mental state and the restlessness of his movement, but his character journey feels stagnant throughout the second act. This being said, the choreography in the second act will leave you breathless, so we’ll let it slide.

Rambert Dance in Peaky Blinders: The Redemption of Thomas Shelby is a beautiful and ambitious production. The show truly captures the feeling of the TV series and will transport you to the reimagined world of Peaky Blinders. Death might be coming for Thomas Shelby, but no one can come for Rambert’s dancers – they are masters of their craft.

PEAKY BLINDERS: THE REDEMPTION OF THOMAS SHELBY

Sadler’s Wells Theatre

Reviewed on 6th August 2025

by Lara van Huyssteen

Photography by Beatrice Livet

Last ten shows reviewed at Sadler’s Wells venues:

SINBAD THE SAILOR | ★★★★★ | July 2025

R.O.S.E. | ★★★★★ | July 2025

QUADROPHENIA, A MOD BALLET | ★★★★★ | June 2025

INSIDE GIOVANNI’S ROOM | ★★★★★ | June 2025

ALICE | ★★★★ | May 2025

BAT OUT OF HELL THE MUSICAL | ★★★★ | May 2025

SPECKY CLARK | ★★★ | May 2025

SNOW WHITE: THE SACRIFICE | ★★★★★ | April 2025

SKATEPARK | ★★★★ | April 2025

MIDNIGHT DANCER | ★★★★ | March 2025

PEAKY BLINDERS

★★★½

“an important and extremely moving piece of theatre”

Next month marks 35 years since the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989. In an act of memoriam and collective consciousness raising, Stage June Fourth, with support from Arts Council England and Amnesty International, are producing the first English language adaptation of a play inspired by witness testimony.

May 35th tells the story of an elderly couple whose son, Ah Ping, was killed in Tiananmen Square. May 35th is the codename for the event, as still, references to June 4 are censored on Chinese social media. Decades later, as they both face their own mortality, their dying wish is to hold a ritual for him in the place he was murdered.

Written by Candace Chong Mui Ngam, a Chinese playwright from Hong Kong, it is based on interviews and real-life stories of parents whose children were killed in the massacre. In the week that 14 pro-democracy activists were found guilty under Hong Kong’s new national security laws, imposed by Beijing, it is a timely reminder of the ramifications of Tiananmen into the present day.

Set solely in parents Siu Lum and Ah Dai’s small apartment, design by Hong Kong-style Pineapple Bun with Butter had a fitting mix of crumbling upper walls and more brightly painted lower thirds that got across both the horrors and more touching moments the apartment had seen over their lifetime. Almost imperceptible transformations at scene changes, such as additions of layers of knitwear, and the appearance and disappearance of a poster to Chairman Mao, demonstrate the passing of time and delineate between contemporary scenes and flashbacks.

Despite the frailty of the couple, they both brim with deep set anger over the senseless, evil violence done to him and all the victims of the massacre. In a particularly memorable scene, Siu Lum is tied to chair by Ah Dai, who is trying to stop her from rashly reacting to her son’s death. The power of her words and delivery, speaking about her anguish over her son’s death, not knowing what had happened to him, not being able to see his body and grieve his death, it utterly transfixing.

Contrasted with this is her husband, whose reticence to act for fear of repercussions from the CCP is a source of tension. But as we witness the couple in their heart-breaking final days, and wonder whether Siu Lum will make it to see her wish of lighting a candle for her son in the square, any doubts about Ah Dai’s devotion are redeemed.

May 35th is no doubt an important and extremely moving piece of theatre telling the story of the massacre. As emphasised by the CEO of Amnesty International and Zhou Fengsuo, executive director of Human Rights in China and President of Humanitarian China in an aftershow talk, shows like this can help support global activism and international support for Human Rights, truth and justice in China today.

PEAKY BLINDERS: THE REDEMPTION OF THOMAS SHELBY

Sadler’s Wells Theatre

★★★★

“a mesmerising cacophony of movement”

PEAKY BLINDERS: THE REDEMPTION OF THOMAS SHELBY

Sadler’s Wells Theatre

Reviewed on 6th August 2025

by Lara van Huyssteen

Photography by Beatrice Livet

Last ten shows reviewed at Sadler’s Wells venues:

PEAKY BLINDERS

PEAKY BLINDERS

PEAKY BLINDERS

MAY 35TH at Southwark Playhouse Elephant

★★★½

“an important and extremely moving piece of theatre”

MAY 35TH at Southwark Playhouse Elephant

Reviewed on 30th May 2024

by Amber Woodward

Previously reviewed at Southwark Playhouse venues:

MAY 35th

MAY 35th

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