Brutal but brilliant. Those three words very adequately sum up the eagerly awaited production of The Shawshank Redemption that is currently playing at the Regent Theatre Hanley.
This prison drama that came from the pen of Stephen King before becoming a highly-acclaimed film starring Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins certainly does not hold back in its portrayal of life in a hard-line penitentiary and is certainly not for the faint-hearted amongst us. It features gang-rape and violence and the language expected from those in a hardcore all-male environment.
However, the play’s central theme is of how a human can retain dignity and hope in a situation that seems without hope and the ending brings a tear to the eyes of even the most hardened onlooker.
The two main characters are Andy (Joe Absolom) who has been found guilty of the murder of his wife and her golf professional lover and Red (Ben Onwukwe) – a long-term prisoner who has the contacts on the outside to provide material comfort to his fellow inmates.
Red befriends Andy but the younger prisoner refuses to acknowledge his crime and to bow down to the gang who terrorise the cell block. Led by Rooster (Leigh Jones) and his enforcer Bogs (Jay Marsh), the Sisters target Andy with their violence but things improve for the victim when he gains the confidence of Warden Stammas (Mark Heenehan) by helping him with his tax avoidance schemes. From this point on Andy is protected by the thuggish guards Hadley (Joe Reisig) and Entwistle (Owen Oldroyd).
Andy uses his influence to improve affairs for what he refers to as his work colleagues as he gets a beer allowance for them and manages to re-stock the prison library. The latter act brings joy to the heart of librarian Brooksie (Kenneth Jay) who fears the parole that will destroy his sheltered life.
The arrival of Tommy Williams (Coulter Dittman) upsets the balance. Tommy claims to have evidence to prove Andy’s innocence and this is a devastating blow to Stammas. The bible-quoting warden fears that his corrupt life will be revealed to the world and he does everything he can to prevent this disaster happening to him. But Stammas is unaware of how Andy is using the one thing that he asked Red to provide for him.
Shawshank has always received huge critical acclaim despite not being a massive commercial hit in the cinema on release. This production enhances that praise with some perfect casting.
Absolom brings all of his experience to the role of a strong character who has a plan to prove his innocence and his partnership with Onwukwe is very believable. Ben brings dignity and gravitas to his part as the prison’s elder statesman and the spellbound audience is rooting for them to succeed. Heenehan brings all of the oiliness required to play the double-standards of Stammas and Jay is very convincing as the institutionalised victim of the system.
There is excellent work from all other cast members with Jules Brown (Rico), Kieran Garland (Dawkins) and Samarge Hamilton (Kelly) giving support and all ensuring that their characters are portrayed beyond cardboard stereotypes.
Despite the harshness of the scenes there are laugh out loud moments of humour and some atmospheric snatches of music and there is a genuine feelgood factor running through the action. Whether you have seen the film or not, this is a must-see stunning production with superb acting performances that more than match those on the big screen. You deserve to be locked up if you don’t make the effort to attend.
The production has a running time of two hours and seven minutes and continues until February 25th. For ticket information contact atgtickets.com/stoke
Before the run commenced at the Regent Theatre I caught up with Joe Absolom who plays Andy:
