Bucks &amp; Oxon

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="1000" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/1.-Ramberts-Peaky-Blinders-The-Redemption-of-Thomas-Shelby-photo-by-Johan-Persson.jpg" alt="peaky blinders the redemption of tommy shelby rambert " class="wp-image-174152" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/1.-Ramberts-Peaky-Blinders-The-Redemption-of-Thomas-Shelby-photo-by-Johan-Persson.jpg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/1.-Ramberts-Peaky-Blinders-The-Redemption-of-Thomas-Shelby-photo-by-Johan-Persson-800x533.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/1.-Ramberts-Peaky-Blinders-The-Redemption-of-Thomas-Shelby-photo-by-Johan-Persson-1000x667.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/1.-Ramberts-Peaky-Blinders-The-Redemption-of-Thomas-Shelby-photo-by-Johan-Persson-400x267.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">All photo credits: Johan Persson</figcaption></figure>



Peaky Blinders: The Redemption of Tommy Shelby is the kind of creative &#8216;event&#8217; that looks to stretch the appeal of dance beyond the land of tutus and corps de ballet, taking the bones of the TV series starring Cillian Murphy, and adding live music and the extraordinary talent of Rambert dance company.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="1000" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/14.-Centre-Tommy-Guillaume-Queau-in-Ramberts-Peaky-Blinders-The-Redemption-of-Thomas-Shelby-photo-by-Johan-Persson.jpg" alt="peaky blinders the redemption of tommy shelby rambert " class="wp-image-174147" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/14.-Centre-Tommy-Guillaume-Queau-in-Ramberts-Peaky-Blinders-The-Redemption-of-Thomas-Shelby-photo-by-Johan-Persson.jpg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/14.-Centre-Tommy-Guillaume-Queau-in-Ramberts-Peaky-Blinders-The-Redemption-of-Thomas-Shelby-photo-by-Johan-Persson-800x533.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/14.-Centre-Tommy-Guillaume-Queau-in-Ramberts-Peaky-Blinders-The-Redemption-of-Thomas-Shelby-photo-by-Johan-Persson-1000x667.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/14.-Centre-Tommy-Guillaume-Queau-in-Ramberts-Peaky-Blinders-The-Redemption-of-Thomas-Shelby-photo-by-Johan-Persson-400x267.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /></figure>



It&#8217;s clearly working because opening night at the New Theatre Oxford of this show, first performed in 2022 in Birmingham, was sold out, and there was a palpable buzz amongst the audience.



As one of the few people in the UK not to watch Peaky Blinders on the tell , it was an interesting experiment in whether the show&#8217;s narrative, written by series creator Steven Knight, would feel coherent to a Peaky novice. In the main, with a little help from the pre-recorded voice of the late Benjamin Zephaniah (Jeremiah in the series) to highlight key points of the story, the answer is yes &#8211; though I&#8217;m not sure I completely followed what was happening in Act 2. 



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="1000" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/7.-Center-Jeremiah-Prince-Lyons-Barney-Musa-Motha-John-Joseph-Kudra-photo-by-Johan-Persson.jpg" alt="peaky blinders the redemption of tommy shelby rambert club scene" class="wp-image-174125" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/7.-Center-Jeremiah-Prince-Lyons-Barney-Musa-Motha-John-Joseph-Kudra-photo-by-Johan-Persson.jpg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/7.-Center-Jeremiah-Prince-Lyons-Barney-Musa-Motha-John-Joseph-Kudra-photo-by-Johan-Persson-800x533.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/7.-Center-Jeremiah-Prince-Lyons-Barney-Musa-Motha-John-Joseph-Kudra-photo-by-Johan-Persson-1000x667.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/7.-Center-Jeremiah-Prince-Lyons-Barney-Musa-Motha-John-Joseph-Kudra-photo-by-Johan-Persson-400x267.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /></figure>



We follow Tommy from the terror of the The Somme trenches in 1916 as he and his band of brothers emerge alive but morallly broken, to the streets of Birmingham where they begin their rise to the city&#8217;s most influential family. The choreography /direction by Benoit Swan Pouffer owes an obvious debt to Matthew Bourne &#8211; the way he takes existing pieces of work, make the themes universal (love, desire, loss, pain) and creates a pulsating modern dance piece with a phenomenal ensemble of modern dancers.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="1000" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/8.-Ramberts-Peaky-Blinders-The-Redemption-of-Thomas-Shelby-photo-by-Johan-Persson.jpg" alt="peaky blinders the redemption of tommy shelby rambert in army uniform" class="wp-image-174124" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/8.-Ramberts-Peaky-Blinders-The-Redemption-of-Thomas-Shelby-photo-by-Johan-Persson.jpg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/8.-Ramberts-Peaky-Blinders-The-Redemption-of-Thomas-Shelby-photo-by-Johan-Persson-800x533.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/8.-Ramberts-Peaky-Blinders-The-Redemption-of-Thomas-Shelby-photo-by-Johan-Persson-1000x667.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/8.-Ramberts-Peaky-Blinders-The-Redemption-of-Thomas-Shelby-photo-by-Johan-Persson-400x267.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /></figure>



Conor Kerrigan is charismatic as Tommy, all hemmed in menace and power, with moments of vulnerability as he meets the mysterious Grace, a lithe, sensuous Naya Lovell who held the audience rapt every time she moved. Their love story from first meeting to wedding was squeezed into the first half and could have done with more breathing space to truly make sense of Tommy&#8217;s sense of loss and descent into opiate addition in the second half, a scene that was incredible in its own right but that went on for longer than perhaps necessary for impact.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="734" height="1000" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/6.-Thomas-Shelby-Guillaume-Queau-and-Grace-Naya-Lovell-photo-by-Johan-Persson-734x1000.jpg" alt="peaky blinders the redemption of tommy shelby rambert Tommy and Grace " class="wp-image-174126" style="aspect-ratio:0.734;object-fit:cover;width:1500px" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/6.-Thomas-Shelby-Guillaume-Queau-and-Grace-Naya-Lovell-photo-by-Johan-Persson-734x1000.jpg 734w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/6.-Thomas-Shelby-Guillaume-Queau-and-Grace-Naya-Lovell-photo-by-Johan-Persson-587x800.jpg 587w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/6.-Thomas-Shelby-Guillaume-Queau-and-Grace-Naya-Lovell-photo-by-Johan-Persson-294x400.jpg 294w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/6.-Thomas-Shelby-Guillaume-Queau-and-Grace-Naya-Lovell-photo-by-Johan-Persson.jpg 1000w" sizes="(max-width: 734px) 100vw, 734px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Tommy and Grace </figcaption></figure>



Regardless of these small quibbles, the show was electric &#8211; it felt like a creative neck hold all the way to the curtain call. Rambert is one of my favourite dance companies &#8211; the theatricality of the dancing is phenomenal with the fight and club scenes (below) particularly inventive. 



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="1000" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/12.-Caiti-Carpenter-and-Angelique-Blasco-in-Ramberts-Peaky-Blinders-The-Redemption-of-Thomas-Shelby-photo-by-Johan-Persson.jpg" alt="peaky blinders the redemption of tommy shelby rambert in a club " class="wp-image-174148" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/12.-Caiti-Carpenter-and-Angelique-Blasco-in-Ramberts-Peaky-Blinders-The-Redemption-of-Thomas-Shelby-photo-by-Johan-Persson.jpg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/12.-Caiti-Carpenter-and-Angelique-Blasco-in-Ramberts-Peaky-Blinders-The-Redemption-of-Thomas-Shelby-photo-by-Johan-Persson-800x533.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/12.-Caiti-Carpenter-and-Angelique-Blasco-in-Ramberts-Peaky-Blinders-The-Redemption-of-Thomas-Shelby-photo-by-Johan-Persson-1000x667.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/12.-Caiti-Carpenter-and-Angelique-Blasco-in-Ramberts-Peaky-Blinders-The-Redemption-of-Thomas-Shelby-photo-by-Johan-Persson-400x267.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /></figure>



And you&#8217;ll love the live band, visible on the stage, and playing it (very) loud and proud with original music from the likes of Nick Cave (the growling Red Right Hand you&#8217;ll recognise from the TV show) and Radiohead and a specially commissioned score by Roman GianArthur. The band, like the dancers, were given a rousing standing ovation at the end of the performance and I joined in too for this well deserved, visceral, knife-in-the-guts creative hit.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="1000" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/30.-Widow-Changretta-Aishwarya-Raut-in-Ramberts-Peaky-Blinders-The-Redemption-of-Thomas-Shelby-photo-by-Johan-Persson.jpg" alt="peaky blinders the redemption of tommy shelby rambert drummer and dancer " class="wp-image-174129" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/30.-Widow-Changretta-Aishwarya-Raut-in-Ramberts-Peaky-Blinders-The-Redemption-of-Thomas-Shelby-photo-by-Johan-Persson.jpg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/30.-Widow-Changretta-Aishwarya-Raut-in-Ramberts-Peaky-Blinders-The-Redemption-of-Thomas-Shelby-photo-by-Johan-Persson-800x533.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/30.-Widow-Changretta-Aishwarya-Raut-in-Ramberts-Peaky-Blinders-The-Redemption-of-Thomas-Shelby-photo-by-Johan-Persson-1000x667.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/30.-Widow-Changretta-Aishwarya-Raut-in-Ramberts-Peaky-Blinders-The-Redemption-of-Thomas-Shelby-photo-by-Johan-Persson-400x267.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-muddy-verdict">THE MUDDY VERDICT</h2>



Good for: It&#8217;s a fantastic entry point to dance for those who feel traditional ballets aren&#8217;t for them. Anyone who enjoys modern dance will be enthralled by Rambert.



Not for: The music is super-loud and thrashy at times (it ain&#8217;t no Nutcracker), so won&#8217;t appeal to all (though my mum seemed very taken with it so it&#8217;s not necessarily an age thing). There&#8217;s a lower limit of 15+ years old too.



<a href="https://www.atgtickets.com/shows/peaky-blinders-the-redemption-of-thomas-shelby/new-theatre-oxford/">The Redemption of Tommy Shelby</a> runs until Sat 19 Oct at the New Theatre Oxford, tickets available from £21.50.

Review: Peaky Blinders by Rambert – New Theatre, Oxford

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