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An awesome and ridiculous film that leaves you thrilled beyond the point of your natural endurance
2012
Theatre
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Music
The British pop music industry may be eating itself but if Muse are the pick of what it can offer the world in 2010 then British music is in rude health indeed
Muse
I was smitten by both Gilberts enormous luxuriant moustache and the intelligence and nuance of this highly entertaining play
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Always been a fan but never seen them live. I was ecstatic to be part of this epic event. WOW!
London,
Henry Hitchings's rating
Reader rating
Dir: Peter Sheridan.
Cast: Reg E Cathey, Kevin Anderson
Description: Owen O'Neill and Dave Johns's adaptation of the Stephen King novella, starring Reg E Cathey and Kevin Anderson.
Times: Tue-Thu, Sat 7.30pm, Fri 5.30pm & 8.30pm, mats Sat 3pm, Sun 4pm, ends Nov 29
Price: £10-£49.50, Fri 5.30pm perfs £5-£24.50
Trains: Tube: Leicester Square 
Phone: 0870950 0925
Website: www.delfontmackintosh.co.uk
Cell mates: Kevin Anderson as Andy and Reg E Cathey as Red give robust performances
Owen O’Neill and Dave Johns have based their stage version of The Shawshank Redemption not on Frank Darabont’s film but on the Stephen King novella that inspired Darabont.
Yet inescapably it is the popularity of the film that has triggered this adaptation and comparison feels apt.
The key elements of the film’s story remain. This is a play that highlights the brutal nature of prison life. It also depicts the invigorating power of literacy, the capacity of an individual’s hope to inspire those around him and the corrupt devices of authority.
What defines the film is the central relationship between banker Andy Dufresne, wrongly convicted of murdering his wife and her lover, and the world-weary old lag Red, one of the few men inside who acknowledges his own guilt. In the film Red is beautifully played by Morgan Freeman, and The Wire’s Reg E Cathey seems to have been cast here because, like Freeman, he looks craggy and sounds gravelly. Kevin Anderson less obviously recalls the haunted yet twinkly mien of Tim Robbins’s Andy but does convey his tightly coiled emotions.
While Anderson and Cathey give robust performances, their chemistry lacks real spark. Anderson’s manner is often facetious instead of ingenious and Cathey’s gravity gruff rather than wise. There is bright if occasionally raucous work in the supporting roles. Joe Hanley’s coarsely menacing Bogs and Lee Oakes’s scrawnily priapic Ernie are especially likely to stick in the mind.
Peter Sheridan’s direction is neat, maintaining a good sense of pace but the emotional register seems narrow. Typically, a scene in which Andy is buggered by the resident bovver boys proves graphic rather than suggestive. A more delicate approach would have been more powerful.
In addition, while it might seem churlish to say one misses the grimly bleached photography of Roger Deakins, a real problem here is the lack of a suitable visual language. Although at the outset the prison’s vile characteristics are itemised, life inside looks antiseptic and Ferdia Murphy’s set resembles not so much a forbidding, filthy stockade as a giant shopping trolley.
This is a play that features some fine talking, but seems in the end too literal-minded. Although its heart-tugging ending assures a gale of applause, The Shawshank Redemption is decent entertainment, not a masterpiece.
Until 14 February (0844 482 5138).
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
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I loved this play. It deserves to do well. Very atmospheric, moving and hugely entertaining. All the performances are of a high standard and the two main characters excellent. I've no hesitation in recommending it to others - you'll come away feeling really pleased you went.
- Liz, London
"overrated" is usually a euphemism for "I didn't understand it"
- Scotty, london
If the play is based on the original book and not on the film, how come Red is black (in the film Red is played by Morgan Freeman, but in the novella he is Irish, hence the name 'Red' from his hair)
- Dan, London
The most overrated movie ever makes for a mediocre play and you're surprised?
- Tony Mcmahon, London, UK
