The Shawshank Redemption
- Paul Mackenzie
- Sep 24
- 3 min read
Adapted by Owen O’Neill & Dave Johns from Stephen King's short story Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption
Bill Kenwright Ltd
Blackpool Grand Theatre
September 23-27, 2025; 2 hrs 10 mins
(also at HOME, Manchester, October 7-11; Hull New Theatre, October 21-25; Floral Pavilion, New Brighton, November 4-8; Liverpool Everyman, March 31-April 4, 2026; Leeds Grand, May 19-23)
Stephen King’s 1982 novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption was one of four stories in his collection Different Seasons. Each tale loosely represents a time of the year – Shawshank has the subtitle "Hope Springs Eternal".
In the mid-90s it became a globally successful film and in 2009 it was adapted for the stage by comedians Owen O’Neill and Dave Johns.
Johns is best known for his role in I, Daniel Blake. As the eponymous hero of Ken Loach’s film he retains his dignity, identity and belief in humanity in the face of a state that won’t listen and won’t help.
And there are similarities here.
Andy Dufresne is jailed for a double murder he insists he didn’t commit, but never loses the hope that he will one day be free. He pleads for the chance to prove his innocence, but is denied by an intransigent warden who rules the jail as his own private empire, deciding who lives, who dies and who can take advantage of his rehabilitation scheme for offenders.
Andy is helped through his life inside by Red, the inmates’ Mr Fixit, and a host of characters straight from the "Prison Drama Book of Old Lags". Among a familiar line-up of others, there’s a bookish older chap, a young thief who just wants to learn, and a sexually violent thug.
The guards’ uniforms allow them to display all the same violent attitudes as the inmates and face no consequences and it’s all overseen by Warden Stammas, another nasty piece of work out for himself.
The threat of violence is never far away, but some of the fight scenes are lacking conviction and there’s nothing like a half-hearted slap to puncture a tense scene.
Gary McCann’s clever set adds to the oppressive feel of the piece and allows for quick, unobtrusive changes that put us in the warden’s office, or Andy’s cell, with minimum fuss.
The cast of nine inmates do a good job of making the prison seem busy, and Bill Ward (you may know him as Coronation Street’s Charlie Stubbs) does a decent job as the corrupt warden, while Ben Onwukwe – formerly of London’s Burning – impresses as Red.
But arguably the tour’s biggest name, Joe McFadden - who you might have seen in Heartbeat and Holby City, is less convincing as Andy.
His accent wanders well beyond the prison walls and he seems at times to simply be going through the motions (and not just - spoiler alert - during his escape). Maybe there were opening night nerves, maybe I'm being a little harsh, or maybe director David Esbjornson feels slow and steady is the way to go.
Whatever, it lacks pace and intensity at times - but the audience reaction suggests I was in a minority, because they loved it.
More info and tickets here
