A new dance theater event, delving into the backstory of Peaky Blinders‘ protagonist Tommy Shelby, had its premiere at the Birmingham Hippodrome, this month. Titled Peaky Blinders: The Redemption of Thomas Shelby, the show has been directed and choreographed by Benoit Swan Pouffer, the artistic director of London’s contemporary dance company, Rambert. The stage spin-off has been written by Peaky Blinders‘ creator Steven Knight who said recently that the show will most likely travel to the US.
“After it closes in the UK in Birmingham we’re hoping it moves onto New York and then Boston because the show has massive international appeal, so I think this one can travel,” Knight told BBC’s Radio 4 this week, according to a Deadline report. The Rambert production features 20 dancers along with a live band that belts out exclusively commissioned music on stage. The contemporary dance show expands upon Tommy’s backstory and is set during the end of World War I when Tommy served as a Sergeant Major. At the center of the show is Tommy’s romance with his first wife Grace Burgess, an undercover agent working for Special Branch, whose mission was to get close to Tommy, to learn about his criminal activities.
While Cillian Murphy and Anabelle Wallis played Tommy and Grace respectively on the TV show, Guillaume Queau and Seren Williams portray the characters on the dance show. The dance production also features exclusive plot details and character insights that never made it to the screen. Peaky Blinders: The Redemption of Thomas Shelby, is scheduled to go on a UK tour in 2023. It will also be staged at London’s Troubadour Wembley Park from October 12 to November 6.
BBC One’s Peaky Blinders concluded its six-season run this April and Tommy’s fate was left open-ended as the mob boss was seen riding off on his horse, after a health scare which left everyone to believe he was dying. In July this year, Knight confirmed that a Peaky Blinders feature film is in development and will most likely wrap up Tommy’s storyline. At the Heart Breakfast Show, Knight shared that he is almost done writing the movie and is in the process of finalizing filming locations.
Peaky Blinders premiered in 2013 on BBC One and chronicles the exploits of Birmingham gangster Tommy Shelby and his brothers, who return to England after the first World War, to helm their own crime gang named Peaky Blinders. The show starred Murphy, Paul Anderson, Tom Hardy, Finn Cole and Sophie Rundle.
