Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Hope and despair behind bars
A play adapted from the timeless film and novel The Shawshank Redemption comes to Canterbury next month.
Paul Nicholls, Ben Onwukwe and Jack Ellis will star in the Stephen King classic at the Marlowe Theatre.
The Shawshank Redemption follows Andy Dufresne (Nicholls) – a banker handed a double life sentence for the brutal murder of his wife and her lover – who finds himself incarcerated in the notorious Shawshank penitentiary.
Unflinching in his protests of innocence, Andy strikes up an unlikely friendship with the prison fixer Red (Onwukwe), and things take a slight turn for the better.
However, when warden Stammas (Ellis) decides to bully Andy into subservience and exploit his talents for accountancy, a desperate plan is quietly hatched.
The play examines desperation, injustice, friendship and hope behind the claustrophobic bars of a maximum security facility.
The 1994 movie starred Tim Robbins as Andy Dufresne and Morgan Freeman as Ellis ‘Red’ Redding and was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Actor for Freeman.
Paul Nicholls is best known for playing heartthrob Joe Wicks in Eastenders, and has since appeared in acclaimed television programmes Grantchester, Death in Paradise and The C Word. Paul made his West End debut in Long Day’s Journey Into Night at the Lyric Theatre before appearing in Festen and Vincent in Brixton, both directed by Rufus Norris. He has also appeared in several plays at the Tricycle, Bush, Hampstead and Almeida.
Ben Onwukwe boasts a 30-year stage career having appeared in productions at The RSC and the Royal Court Theatre. Television credits include Eastenders, Coronation Street and Doctors but his most prominent role was as Stuart Mckenzie in London’s Burning, a character he played for more than a decade.
Jack Ellis is best known for his role as prison warder Jim Fenner in the hugely popular ITV television series Bad Girls, in which he appeared for seven series. Other televisio n credits include Prime Suspect and Coronation Street. His theatre credits include Sam Mendes’ production of Richard III, Great Expectations and Yaël Farber’s production of The Crucible.
The Shawshank Redemption is at the Marlowe Theatre at 7.30pm from Monday, September 12, to Saturday, September 17, with 2.30pm matinees on the Thursday and Saturday.
Tickets, from £18 to £36, can be bought from the box office on 01227 787787, or at marlowetheatre.com.