TV names for Shawshank

A dramatic scene from The Shawshank Redemption (pic from the 2022-23 production)

A trio of TV names will lead the cast of the stage tour of mighty prison saga The Shawshank Redemption from September.

The show opens in Windsor on September 3 with Strictly Come Dancing champion and talented TV actor Joe McFadden (Raf in Holby City, PC Joe Mason in Heartbeat) in the role of wrongly-convicted Andy Dufresne.

Joe will be joined by popular stage and screen actors Ben Onwukwe (Recall McKenzie in London’s

Burning) as inmate Ellis ‘Red’ Redding and Bill Ward (Charlie Stubbs in Coronation Street) as the

corrupt prison warden Stammas.

The show can be seen in our region at Blackpool Grand (September 23-27), HOME, Manchester (October 7-11), Hull New Theatre (October 21-25) and the Floral Pavilion in New Brighton (November 4-8). Next year will bring a tour stop in Leeds (Grand, May 19-23), with other venues still to be announced.

Despite protests of innocence, Andy Dufresne is handed a double life sentence for the brutal

murder of his wife and her lover. Incarcerated in the notorious Shawshank prison, he quickly learns

no one can survive alone.

Andy strikes up an unlikely friendship with prison fixer Red, and things start to take a turn for

the better. But when Warden Stammas decides to bully Andy into subservience and exploit his

talents for accountancy, a desperate plan is hatched…

More info and tickets here