A Peaky Blinders Dance Show Is Coming To London This Year
Peaky Blinders is certainly having a big year. The sixth- and final- series of the show is scheduled to air at some point in 2022, with a first look trailer already released a few days ago. There’s also set to be an immersive show based on the hit drama coming to London in the coming months too.
But if you want a ‘Blinders project that DOES have a fixed release date, then you might be interested in the Peaky Blinders ballet show. Yes, you did indeed read that right: a dance production of the Birmingham set crime saga will be arriving this year in September. It will fittingly have its premiere in Birmingham at the Hippodrome, before a transfer to London in October for a short run of performances.
Peaky Blinders: The Redemption of Thomas Shelby, to give it its full title, will be performed by the Rambert dance company, accompanied by a live band playing musically specially commissioned for the show. Rambert is the oldest dance company in Britain, and once counted Audrey Hepburn amongst its members.
The show has been written by the show’s original creator, Steven Knight, who said of the show: “Peaky Blinders has always had music and movement at its heart and now the beating heart of the show will be transferred to the stage, an interpretation of Tommy’s story performed by Rambert… …This is dance for people who don’t usually watch dance and what I’ve written has been transformed into something startling by consummate dancers and choreographers. If the concept of a Peaky Blinders dance seems strange, reserve judgement and reserve a ticket.”
Whilst there hasn’t been much released in terms of plot details, what has been revealed is that the show will focus on the earlier years of Thomas Shelby, beginning in the trenches of WWI. The show’s website reads: “Tommy and the Peakys fought together at Flanders and the show opens in the trenches. Bound by this experience, a really personal story unfolds as the Shelby family navigate the decisions that determine their fate and Tommy is intoxicated by the mysterious Grace.”
For longtime fans of the show, this performance will allow them to see some of the key characters of the show aside from just Cillian Murphy’s Tommy in a new light, as well as loosely retelling some of the events of the first series of the show. The director of this new dance performance Swan Pouffer added “[the show] is something on a scale we’ve never done before, and I couldn’t be more ready for the challenge – it’s such an exciting opportunity as a choreographer to tell these stories and recreate these characters through dance.”
A dance show based on Peaky Blinders certainly doesn’t sound like the first thing you’d imagine whilst watching the series, but given the input of creator, and commitment of one of the world’s best dance groups, you can expect a great show that takes the world of the inter-war Birmingham crime world to new heights, with thrilling visuals and music.
PEAKY BLINDERS: THE REDEMPTION OF THOMAS SHELBY COMES TO LONDON
