Review: PEAKY BLINDERS: THE REDEMPTION OF THOMAS SHELBY, Sadler's Wells

From the moment the curtain raises and smoke billows away to reveal a barely lit stage, it’s clear that Rambert’s The Redemption of Thomas Shelby isn’t interested in gently inviting you in and asking how you take your tea. If anything, this is a rough kidnap of the senses, dumping you into a World War I battleground in a way that makes the opening to Saving Private Ryan look like a trip to Tesco.

It’s an opening that sets the scene for what follows. Now on its final UK run, director and choreographer Benoît Swan Pouffer smashes together ballet and modern dance and is very keen to emphasise at least one key tradition of the Peaky Blinders mythos: thanks in no small part to Natalie Chivers’ atmospheric lighting design, the show straight away dunks us into a dark and moody ambience, transitions after a while into something a little less dark but no less moody then hits the home straight by darking and moodying all the way through to the climactic fight scene. Redemption’s dramatic palette is not so much chiaroscuro as just fifty shades of scuro.

Steven Knight (recently hired to write the next Bond film) leans heavily on aspects of his award-winning BBC TV series. Tommy (a scintillating Connor Kerrigan) and his brothers Arthur (Dylan Tedaldi) and John (Tom Davis-Dunn) make it through The War That Most Definitely Didn’t End All Wars and return to Blighty to set up their Black Country criminal empire. Their sister Ada (the phenomenal Adél Bálint) and aunt Polly (Simone Damberg Würtz in imperious form) lend a hand, the latter whispering wisdom into Tommy’s ear when not pointing the business end of a shotgun at any enemies in range. 

It’s fair to say that this is far more a narrative affair than a character study. Those coming to this vibrant work without the benefit of having seen the TV show may feel a lost. Some effort goes into fleshing out the senior members of the gang - not least through occasional voiceover provided by the late and much-missed Benjamin Zephaniah - but there seems to be a heavy assumption from the creators that we are at least au fait with the family Shelby and their dealings before we pull into the pews at Sadler's Wells.

On the flip side, fans may feel that — even with the crepuscular lighting and vicious battle scenes — they are missing out on the sense of creeping menace and ratcheting tension that Knight sewed into every season. Peaky Blinders was more than just the accents, flat caps and Cillian Murphy’s preternatural good looks. As a very British response to the success of The Sopranos, it brought its own flavour of wit and intrigue (much of which is sadly missing here).

One of Redemption’s triumphs is in its treatment of the female characters. Damberg Würtz spits matriarchal fire and is the ultimate lynchpin, steering the family through moral murk. Bálint moves with the directness of a bullet and the elegance of a swan, bringing real presence whenever she appears. And then there’s Grace (Naya Lovell). The doomed love story between her and Tommy is rendered in aching pas de deux: one particularly wrenching moment has them reaching for one another across a stage that will not let them meet, their yearning written in diagonal lines and trembling limbs.

Musically, this was always going to be a punchy affair. Enveloped by a powerful sound design from Moshik Kop, the three-piece band (musical director and drummer Yaron Engler, Joe Downard on cello and bass and Mitchell Emms wielding a guitar) ramp up the action pounding through the beautiful violence of Swan Pouffer’s choreography. Even before the epic growl of Nick Cave’s “Red Right Hand” kicks in, the rock-fuelled blasts have us locked in and heading for an emotional rush.

It’s right and proper that Redemption is its own thing and not a carbon copy of the source material. It borrows, it samples and it takes hints from Knight’s original creation and goes its own way. Rambert have woven something together that doesn’t aim to charm or please, but instead forces us to sit up and lean into this gnarly world with its uncompromising story. If this really is the last hurrah for this evocative and charismatic work, the bar has been set rather high for what follows.

Peaky Blinders: The Redemption Of Thomas Shelby continues at Sadler’s Wells until 16 August.