Thanks to adaptations like Scottish Ballet’s A Streetcar Named Desire and Northern Ballet’s Casanova, narrative dance has come a long way since the days of the traditional ballet canon. But there’s something extra ballsy about taking on a television juggernaut while it’s still fresh in its prime. But Rambert Dance, led by Artistic Director Benoit Swan Pouffer, have tackled the task with all the swagger and panache of the Peaky Blinders gang themselves, creating a piece that is heart-poundingly exhilarating from start to finish. 

^{Pictures: Johan Persson}

This story (a prequel to the TV series) follows Tommy Shelby (Guillaume Quéau) and his crew in the hellhole gangland aftermath of World War I Birmingham. He meets club singer Grace (Naya Lovell) but their love story turns to violent tragedy as they face crime-gang recriminations. What starts as a feral tale of finding love in a hopeless place turns into an odyssey of self-discovery for Shelby, as he sets about coping with loss and grappling with his craving for vengeance. Backed by his gang, he moves from bravado to tenderness to rage and despair.

Swan Pouffer’s choreography gives us an extraordinary palette of emotions, each one spelled out in nuanced, fiery strokes by the dancers’ bodies. Whether they’re staring us down in pack formation or floating through the abyss of an opium trip, the cast are truly outstanding, every dancer pouring attack and passion into both character and movement. The rawness makes it feel closer in style to opera or Senecan tragedy than the dance fables we are used to. 

Shelby and Grace’s first duet is charged with an erotic power and matching of strength for strength that is electrifying. She flings herself into his arms as he (blindfolded) grasps her; he swerves his legs upwards to balance on the lip of the stage, and she leaps on top of him. All of this is underpinned by a live soundtrack of the unmistakeable Peaky Blinders songbook, brought together by composer Roman GianArthur. Thumping and reverberating to bone-shaking levels, it saturates the movement with punkish attitude. It’s a weird juxtaposition of styles that the TV show made its trademark, which shouldn’t work but absolutely does. In the same way Peaky Blinders itself captures the essence of an era more than its facts, Rambert distils this sprawling world of gang life into a fine moonshine of cask strength.  

Rambert Dance In Peaky Blinders: The Redemption Of Thomas Shelby is on tour until Saturday 27 May; reviewed at Festival Theatre, Edinburgh.