The Shawshank Redemption
Nationwide tour
A number of big theatre investors tell me they are wary of London’s West End at the moment. Covid is still resulting in shows being cancelled at ruinous cost and the economic downturn is impacting on overall footfall.
Regional tours now seem a much safer option – the overheads are lower, the tickets are more competitively priced and the punters seem more confident about heading to their local theatres – and it’s telling how many great shows are now out on the road.
No one knows more about touring than Bill Kenwright and his production
of The Shawshank Redemption is a typically accomplished affair. It opened
at the Theatre Royal, Windsor, and is currently in residence at the Theatre
Royal, Newcastle. From January 23, it’s on to Brighton, and, after that, 14
further venues across the UK until May.
Owen O’Neill and David Johns’ adaptation pares Stephen King’s novella down to its themes of an unfair world, the redemptive power of humanity and
friendship and how nothing is really lost so long as there’s still hope.
It is, of course, a tough job taking on roles that are indelibly associated with Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman in the screen version, but Joe Absolom as
the clean-cut professional convicted of murder, and Ben Onwukwe as the old lag who shows him the ropes, don’t make the mistake of trying to imitate their predecessors, but invest a lot of themselves in their characters.
This adaptation made me a lot more aware than the film of how artfully this piece is written and structured. Thoroughly recommended.
