THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
Welcome to the wild, subversive world of noirish 1920s London, where you are extended a warm handshake by famed fictional crime boss Tommy Shelby to the Camden Garrison in North London, shepherded into the middle of the Shelby family's scheming, machinations, plots and conspiratorial double crossing as your initiation into the Peaky f___ing Blinders!
If you are not familiar with the cultishly popular show on which this immersive show is based - and I have it on good authority that many Americans are intimately familiar with it - then this experience is simply a wonderfully anachronistic romp with fantastically incongruous Brummy accents in a warehouse space in the middle of Camden Market that is marvelously transformed into a number of different film sets, from the bookies where the Shelby family fixes the results of races and football matches, to the offices of Shelby Limited, to a speakeasy style nightclub owned by rival don Charles Darby Sabini.
It's a fun time traveling romp. Not sci-fi time traveling, but a definite walk back in time, with a well stylized recreation of the time period. We are encouraged as guests of the Shelby family to dress the part as well. And although a waistcoat is not easy in the London summer heat, nor is the trademark Peaky flat cap, I'm game and do not need much of an excuse to dress up. The effect is of blending in and an increased sense of being immersed in that seedy underworld over which the Shelby's have dominion.
That flavor of history is accomplished in no small part due to production designer Rebecca Brower's meticulously detailed and creative recreations of period dress and show sets, including a very jazzy Eden Club, the dusty musty feel of the geographical nucleus of the show, the Garrison pub, where Tommy, his brothers and his Aunt Pol often hold court, and the Gypsy Caravan that greets you when you come in from the goth rock and punkishly-pierced denizens and stallholders of Camden Market and step back through the shadows 100 years in time.
The credit for the effectiveness and the fun of this living illusion also go to some stellar performances from the cast including Craig Hamilton as the man of the hour, assuming the unfiltered and authoritative baritones played for six seasons by Cillian Murphy. I must also give Brower credit for the magnificently staged entrance, deferred for so long by the show's other characters and minor players until amidst shadows and industrial sparks Hamilton swaggers in as Tommy, gladhanding patrons and fellow characters alike. Hamilton's charisma and easy assured use of voice and physicality are a joy, but not as much a joy as Emma Stansfield's Aunt Pol, who, much like her character in the series, is the commanding glue that holds the Shelby family - and their business - together. Stansfield's riveting ability to hold the room far exceeds any of her colleagues', deftly capturing a welcoming warmth and an intimidatingly fierce strength. A fitting tribute to the late, incredible Helen McCrory, who tragically passed before she was able to film the last season of the show.
Oddly, one of the most charming elements of this experience is that it is able to deepen the enjoyment by weaving an anachronistic soundtrack into a time period in which some 20th and 21st Century artists have no business. At times, Roxanna Bartle sweetly crooning Dylan's 'Hard Rain' or 'Black Velvet Band', sets a somber and peaceful moment of contemplative calm; at others, 'Seven Nation Army' builds to a crescendo as a conflict approaches between the Shelby's and another faction. Hannah Victoria, playing expert thief Maggie Hill, truly excels turning her vocal talents as easily to soul as to Rage Against the Machine's 'Bulls On Parade'. At times, she is able to make us feel that we are as much in a rock concert as a crime thriller, embracing the raucously thumping spirit of the rhythm.
Peaky Blinders: The Rise is mostly atmosphere. My wife and I got lost on the plot on our visit. And it was difficult to discern what 'extras' were involved in the VIP experience, or even whether we were on it. That did not seem entirely clear to staff and actors either as we got separated from a companion and barred from Tommy Shelby's private offices for having the wrong pin. A possibly important note if you're contemplating the more expensive package.
However, on atmosphere and on making us feel like a Shelby who'd lived a thrilling night as part of the family The Rise delivered and delivered well. You can take that on the authority of the Peaky f___ing Blinders!
