The Shawshank Redemption

As a fan of the film version of Stephen King’s novella I was both excited and worried as the curtain rose on this staged adaptation. How could they do it? The answer was simply to go back to the book and take the essence of the story. This they did with a great deal of style and skill. Okay, we lost the noise and menace of a jail filled with hundreds of menacing criminals but the company more than made up for that with some very fine performances and an effectively simple staging. Ian Kelsey plays the innocent Dufresne with great reserve, never once losing that cool until he realises that his chance vindication is enmeshed in the corruption of the prison and its warden. Patrick Robinson has the more difficult task of taking on a role so fixed in our minds by Morgan Freeman – but he does it and does it with class. Leigh Jones as Rooster is terrifyingly evil from start to finish and in contrast George Evans as Tommy Williams is movingly effective as the boy murderer.

The first half is perhaps a little slow, but clearly to emphasise the slow passage of the years for the inmates, after all the story has to span a massive 20 years. In the second half the pace quickens as the plot unwinds. Of course for the majority of the audience I suspect that we knew how things would pan out. But for me it did not matter, I was held by the excellent portrayals of naivety, lust, anger and pure evil from the excellent cast. Sadly I felt that the impact of the penultimate scene was lessened by what I felt was an unnecessary beach reunion between Red and Dufresne – but that’s just me. Fans of the book and the film need not worry that this production will not live up to its potential, it certainly does and makes for a fine evening of moving drama.

7 September 2015, Theatre Royal Brighton

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