Rambert Peaky Blinders Festival Theatre Edinburgh 1st October 2024 Review
Peaky Blinders The Redemption of Thomas Shelby from Rambert Dance returns to the Festival Theatre Edinburgh this week (Tues 1 to Sat 5 Oct) and from the outset has an already targeted audience – the legion of fans that the television series Peaky Blinders has gathered over its six season story arc. A second audience base is of course the many lovers of Rambert Dance itself.
If you are already a Peaky Blinders fan or just a lover of contemporary dance at its best (or both) then this show is definitely for you. All of the main Shelby family and supporting characters are here and tonight performing those roles were Conor Kerrigan (Tommy), Tom Davis-Dun (John), Dylan Tedaldi (Arthur), Simone Damberg Wűrtz (Polly), Adél Bálint (Ada), Nayal Lovell (Grace), Max Day (Barney) and Jau’mair Garland (Jeremiah).
The production scope of this stage show is an enormous one and the attention paid to every detail to create that Peaky Blinders look, atmosphere and world is impressive. Part of this is no doubt due to the fact that Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight is directly involved with Rambert in creating this “Peaky” world on-stage.
The world of Peaky Blinders is a violent one, and this show carries more than a few content warnings for anyone planning to come along and experience it, but somehow Benoit Swan Pouffer (Choreographer/Director) has re-created the darkness of this world on stage and along with Adrian Derrick-Palmer (Fight Director), everything is believable. The choreography and fight scenes here will be setting production standards for many years to come and few if any that follow will come close to this.
Detail and atmosphere are everything here and Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight (writer), Richard Gellar (costume designer), Moi Tran (set Designer), Natasha Chivers (Lighting Designer), Yaron Engler (Musical Director) and Kaite O’Reilly (Dramaturg/Narration director) have seamlessly combined their talents to bring to stage a production that retains the look and feel of the original television show whilst also creating something new and different.
Music has always been a big factor in the creation of Peaky Blinders as a television show and that contemporary sound, often dark and grungy with a little bit of punk attitude, for many people defines so much of this show. The now iconic “Red Right Hand” by Nick Cave is still in this show, but the bulk of the music for this show has been specially commissioned by Rambert, and composer Roman Gianarthur has for me perfectly captured the musical essence of Peaky Blinders in all of its colours and shades. Having the music performed on stage by a live band adds much to the atmospheric soundtrack of this show.
Conor Kerrigan in the lead role of Tommy was impressive as were all dancers performing leading roles as we followed his life from the tunnels and trenches of World War 1 to finding and losing the love of his life and somehow in the midst of losing his way in the aftermath of his grief, eventually finding salvation. Strong performances from the rest of the main cast (some playing dual roles) plus the Rambert ensemble created a story told in movement that was full of physical power and emotional performances.
This stage show has many of the elements that are in the original series, including their epic fight against the Changretta family, but it is not a recreation of the television series. To compress all six television seasons into the performance time would be impossible to do, so instead what we have here is a distillation of the original story that retains the main characters and the narrative essence of the original television show whilst creating something that is new and works so well for the new dance and movement language that Rambert are adding to the now wider world of Peaky Blinders.
Review by Tom King © 2024
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
If you are already a Peaky Blinders fan or just a lover of contemporary dance at its best (or both) then this show is definitely for you. All of the main Shelby family and supporting characters are here and tonight performing those roles were Conor Kerrigan (Tommy), Tom Davis-Dun (John), Dylan Tedaldi (Arthur), Simone Damberg Wűrtz (Polly), Adél Bálint (Ada), Nayal Lovell (Grace), Max Day (Barney) and Jau’mair Garland (Jeremiah).
The production scope of this stage show is an enormous one and the attention paid to every detail to create that Peaky Blinders look, atmosphere and world is impressive. Part of this is no doubt due to the fact that Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight is directly involved with Rambert in creating this “Peaky” world on-stage.
The world of Peaky Blinders is a violent one, and this show carries more than a few content warnings for anyone planning to come along and experience it, but somehow Benoit Swan Pouffer (Choreographer/Director) has re-created the darkness of this world on stage and along with Adrian Derrick-Palmer (Fight Director), everything is believable. The choreography and fight scenes here will be setting production standards for many years to come and few if any that follow will come close to this.
Detail and atmosphere are everything here and Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight (writer), Richard Gellar (costume designer), Moi Tran (set Designer), Natasha Chivers (Lighting Designer), Yaron Engler (Musical Director) and Kaite O’Reilly (Dramaturg/Narration director) have seamlessly combined their talents to bring to stage a production that retains the look and feel of the original television show whilst also creating something new and different.
Music has always been a big factor in the creation of Peaky Blinders as a television show and that contemporary sound, often dark and grungy with a little bit of punk attitude, for many people defines so much of this show. The now iconic “Red Right Hand” by Nick Cave is still in this show, but the bulk of the music for this show has been specially commissioned by Rambert, and composer Roman Gianarthur has for me perfectly captured the musical essence of Peaky Blinders in all of its colours and shades. Having the music performed on stage by a live band adds much to the atmospheric soundtrack of this show.
Conor Kerrigan in the lead role of Tommy was impressive as were all dancers performing leading roles as we followed his life from the tunnels and trenches of World War 1 to finding and losing the love of his life and somehow in the midst of losing his way in the aftermath of his grief, eventually finding salvation. Strong performances from the rest of the main cast (some playing dual roles) plus the Rambert ensemble created a story told in movement that was full of physical power and emotional performances.
This stage show has many of the elements that are in the original series, including their epic fight against the Changretta family, but it is not a recreation of the television series. To compress all six television seasons into the performance time would be impossible to do, so instead what we have here is a distillation of the original story that retains the main characters and the narrative essence of the original television show whilst creating something that is new and works so well for the new dance and movement language that Rambert are adding to the now wider world of Peaky Blinders.
Review by Tom King © 2024
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com