‘Peaky Blinders stage show was quite a mad idea’

A theatre show based on the tv series Peaky Blinders is returning to Birmingham for its final run of shows.

Peaky Blinders The Redemption of Thomas Shelby, a dance/theatre event with a live band, has been seen by more than 200,000 people across Europe over the past three years, bosses say.

The tv series’ creator Steven Knight was in Birmingham on Tuesday to mark the show’s final run which ends at the city’s Hippodrome on Saturday.

“It’s only now looking back that I realise it was quite a mad idea,” he said.

“At the time I didn’t think of it like that. I thought it was quite natural, that this would be the natural progression.”

“I’m not a dance person, I never have been, but when I watched this and I watched what those people are able to do themselves personally, physically, I find it quite remarkable.

“It’s just like instead of words you’ve got that amazing ability and movement, and the music.”

Peaky Blinders follows the fortunes of the Shelby family who live in Birmingham in the years following World War I. Peaky Blinders was the name given to a street gang operating at the time.

The man who helped take Peaky Blinders from the small screen to the stage is artistic director Benoit Swan Pouffer.

“I was a fan already, before I created the show,” he said. “It gives me a chance to be part of the legacy.”

Among the performers is Mitchel Emms from near Lichfield, said the show was a one-of-a-kind.

“On paper – having a dance show that tells the story of Peaky Blinders with a live rock band on stage – it sounds very strange, but when we perform it every night it just feels right,” he said.

While the curtain will soon be drawing on the stage show, fans still have a movie to look forward to, which is due for release later this year.

Knight said the response to those in the studio who had seen it had been “phenomenal”.

“We think we’ve got something very special on our hands,” he said. “I can’t wait for it to be out there.”

Earlier this year he also teased another Peaky Blinders project, without revealing further details.