Britain’s oldest dance company Rambert presents Peaky Blinders: The Redemption of Thomas Shelby, written for the stage by Peaky Blinders’ creator Steven Knight. The show, which comes to Bristol Hippodrome 24-28 September, has been choreographed and directed by Rambert’s Artistic Director Benoit Swan Pouffer. Steven Knight tells us about this reimagining of the story…
Opening in the trenches of Flanders, a personal story unfolds in post-war industrial Birmingham as the Shelby family navigate the decisions that determine their fate and Tommy is intoxicated by mysterious newcomer, Grace. While Tommy is building his empire, Grace is operating as an undercover agent for Special Branch on a mission to get close to the heart of Tommy’s gang.
As the story unfolds, hearts are broken, and revenge is sought. This spectacular dramatisation and breathtaking dance is heightened by a live on-stage band performing specially commissioned music by Roman GianArthur and iconic Peaky tracks from Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, Radiohead, Anna Calvi, The Last Shadow Puppets, Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.
How did you become connected with Rambert?
It was a gradual process because someone at the BBC suggested that we meet when we talked about doing a 12-minute dance piece as part of a Peaky Blinders festival. Rambert were brought on, and it was brilliant.
I was writing series five of Peaky Blinders at the time and so I wrote a scene where Tommy Shelby invites Rambert to his house, because in the 1930s Rambert used to tour the country and do shows to bring dance to the people. In Peaky Blinders, the music, the way people move and the way they dress is really important so it really lends itself to dance.
Rambert’s Artistic Director Benoit Swan Pouffer and I noted that we could create a full show together. I was shocked when the company asked me to write it, but I imagined the set and the stage and wrote what I thought would be good for that.
Benoit and I started working together and it began to snowball. We brought in some great collaborators and got really good music for it. I saw the show in rehearsals and couldn’t believe how great it was. I first saw it performed to an audience in Birmingham and it raised the roof with standing ovations, and now it’s going all over the place.
How does the work of Rambert make you feel?
I didn’t realise how direct the relationship between dance and the audience is. I work with dialogue and plot within scenes where people act the roles, whereas in dance it feels more subtle in the execution but more direct in the effect. An interaction between two people can be very stylised but you get to see that very quickly, and the music continues to amplify that.
How did you meet both inspirations and visions during the collaboration process of making the work?
I wrote the script as though it was a long script without dialogue, with slight inclusion of narration. I started off with WWI and soldiers coming out of a tunnel, and imagined how they would look and move, while thinking about how that would make them feel too. The way I tend to write is quite instinctive so I just wrote it imagining it through dance and music. I wrote it almost like a dream rather than a script. It felt dreamlike, not forcing the imagination, but writing what comes to you.
How did it feel trusting another creative with the keys to Peaky Blinders?
When there’s somebody as good as Benoit, it’s a relief. It’s like giving the script to a good director as you know they are going to take what you’ve done and enhance it. I’m a firm believer in doing things that you haven’t done before otherwise it’s boring, so the idea of telling people that Peaky Blinders will be presented through dance is great.
Do you think you learnt anything from Benoit or Rambert, and the art of storytelling?
Yes. I think it teaches you that sometimes words cause a jam. Instead you can present something quite quickly in dance, and it teaches you the power of a look. The thing about dance is that all of us are experts in it because we all live our lives in a dance. For example, if someone walks into a room – you can tell if they are in a good or bad mood because of their body language. Dance takes that and puts it to music.
How did you come to decide that there would be a live band on stage?
The music is central to the TV series and music is the stepping stone between the TV series and the dance piece too. Roman GianArthur, who did the score, absolutely got what Peaky Blinders was about. It isn’t exactly a particular style of music as it can be folk or heavy metal, but it does need to have a certain swagger or a certain attitude to it. In terms of the style of music, and in the words of Cillian Murphy: “There is music that is Peaky, and there is music that isn’t Peaky. You can’t always define it but you can tell when you hear it.”
Is it exciting to be bringing in a new audience?
It really is, and it is one of the reasons why we decided to do it. I’m proud that Peaky Blinders isn’t high brow or of a particular class – it’s a cross section of people from different backgrounds, so it appeals to different people too. People may not always walk through a door marked ‘dance’ but they may walk through a door marked ‘Peaky Blinders’, so you can connect with new audiences by welcoming them through that setting.
Saying that, the BBC’s most popular TV show across all demographics is Strictly Come Dancing, so audiences love watching people dance. It isn’t like it’s restricted to certain people of a level of education or income, as people have been dancing for 10,000+ years.
Isn’t it great that something like this can work, and it challenges the idea that there are these rigid barriers between class and entertainment?
Do you think Peaky Blinders: The Redemption of Thomas Shelby is an accessible show?
Absolutely. It’s very accessible. The story is clear and we aren’t planning on baffling people. We are being as clear as we can about what’s going on and that, in itself, is quite mysterious.
It ties into what Rambert’s original remit was in the ’20 sand ’30s of taking dance to working class people who love dance. That doesn’t come with a clause of being patronising but I think this show does that in the true spirit of Rambert. For me, you’re getting to see what human beings can do; the way the dancers move and the way they interact, as they throw themselves into it. It’s incredible that you can see human bodies pushing themselves to the limit to tell a story – it’s brilliant.
What do you want audiences to feel when they engage with the dance theatre show?
It’s a live experience and that’s one of the things that I really like about it as, in comparison, television isn’t a communal experience. What tends to happen is that people watch Peaky Blinders, and then they get on social media so the communal experience happens on screens.
If you get people in a room together, all in the same space listening and watching to the same things, it’s just totally different. For me, it’s more satisfying because audiences get their reactions out of their system.
If you go into a room and watch the work, and you hear the music, and you are part of a standing ovation, you have a beginning, middle and end to that experience. You can then take it out into the cold and talk about that together.
Peaky Blinders: The Redemption of Thomas Shelby is at Bristol Hippodrome from 24-28 September; tickets available from atgtickets.com/bristol