IT started as a 1982 novella - Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption - by horror writer Stephen King, and became the nation’s favourite film.
Now The Shawshank Redemption is a thrilling stage production, examining desperation, injustice, friendship and hope behind the bars of a maximum-security facility.
The 1994 film, starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman, was nominated for seven Oscars. It became a huge inspiration to film-makers, with The National Film Registry citing the film as “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.
It’s the story of Andy Dufresne who, despite protesting his innocence, is handed a double life sentence for the brutal murder of his wife and her lover. Incarcerated at the notorious Shawshank facility, he quickly learns that no one can survive alone.
When Andy strikes up an unlikely friendship with prison fixer Red, things take a slight turn for the better. But when Warden Stammas decides to bully Andy into subservience and exploit his talents for accountancy, a desperate plan is quietly hatched.
In this production, heading for the Alhambra this month, Joe Absolom stars as wrongly convicted Andy Dufresne with Ben Onwukwe as Ellis “Red” Redding.
Joe has barely been off our TV screens in 25 years, from playing Matthew Rose in EastEnders to Al Large in Doc Martin, Christopher Halliwell in A Confession and Andy Warren in The Bay.
Over a 30-year stage career, Ben Onwukwe has had lead roles with the RSC and the Royal Court, as well as 11 years on TV playing Recall McKenzie in London’s Burning and, more recently, Jackson Donckers in Professor T.
Joe says The Shawshank Redemption is “a story of friendship and a story of hope”.
“It’s about the fact that whatever happens in life you can either just give up or you can say to yourself ‘I’m going to employ my spirit and fight what’s in front of me’. Life is ups and downs and it’s about how you get through the downs. This is a severe down moment for Andy, his circumstances are horrific, but he envisions himself sitting on a beach at the end of it, having climbed all these walls that have been put in front of him.”
How would you describe Andy ? “He’s a banker who is respected in his community and in his family life. He’s a good man to whom this awful event happens. He’s convicted for the murder of his wife and her lover, and suddenly he’s in a prison surrounded by people who want to tear him apart. He’s a fish out of water, the quiet guy who stands off to the side and doesn’t want to get involved in the banter or the haranguing of new inmates. He just wants to keep his head down and try and get through this ordeal.
“His resolve is something that really appealed to me. You hear stories about people like him patiently digging their way out of prison-of-war camps and I don’t know how they do it, managing just a few millimetres every day. The thought of tunnelling through a stone wall with a spoon is so alien to us in an age where accessing everything is so immediate, but when stuff hits the fan the human mind is the strongest thing we have. Our brain is the most powerful computer.”
The Shawshank Redemption is an all-time favourite film for many people. Is it one of yours? “I hadn’t seen it and I thought there was a line in it about a box of chocolates,” laughs Joe. “Of course I’d got it mixed up with Forrest Gump. My wife told me to watch it because it’s one of her favourite films and everyone I spoke to about the play went ‘It’s a brilliant film’. So I watched it with my wife and I was amazed by how good it was, but also terrified about doing it on stage because it’s so iconic.”
Are there still surprises in store for those who know the outcome? “Yes, there are a few tweaks. Everyone who knows the story knows what happens at the end. It’s like the story of the Titanic; when we went to see the film we all knew the ship was going to sink but it was about how they got there and how it was dramatised. It’s the same with this play, bringing all the characters together and taking them and the audience on a journey.
Why do you think prison dramas are so gripping? “They bring characters together who don’t normally fit together - from such different walks of life, like the prison guards or people like Red who are almost heroic. We get to see them as humans, with all their strengths and flaws, rather than simply as criminals. The prison system and society classes them as criminals but behind bars they’re a society among themselves. They’re just people trying to survive.”
After a successful TV career, Joe is relishing theatre work: “I’d only done one play, Abigail’s Party, and that was 10 years ago. I wanted to get back on stage because it’s a different buzz from doing television.
“It’s such a fantastic role and a great opportunity to give it a different spin - to get a great cast together, take it around the country, make some good friends and do some good theatre. The world has been pretty closed over the last couple of years so it’s great to get people back into theatres.”
Why did it take 10 years to get back on stage? “There’s the fear of it, plus TV is fairly easy by comparison. Plus, to be honest, nothing has really come up stage-wise so when I was approached about The Shawshank Redemption I was interested.
“At the end of last year I read Anthony Sher’s obituary and he did so much in his career. I started thinking ‘If I die, what will they write about me?’ Would it be ‘He was in EastEnders and he did Doc Martin for 20 years’?
“Then Selina Cadell, who plays Mrs Tishell on Doc Martin, asked if I wanted to see her friend in a one-woman show of Great Expectations in a church hall in Cornwall. It turned out her friend was Eddie Izzard doing an abridged version in about two-and-a-half hours. Everyone in the hall was amazed and I sat there thinking ‘I’ve got to up my game’. So when Shawshank came up a few months later I knew I had to take it.”.
Joe got his break aged 18, joining EastEnders in 1997. “It was like the world was opening up to me,” he says. “It was just a brilliant time. I went from having a paper round to being paid to be an actor. I stayed at home and I’d get the train in. One year I got nine of my mates into the Reading Festival because they were like ‘He’s on EastEnders’. When I look back I think ‘Wow, it was really good fun’. I got to work with people like Barbara Windsor. I think it was a good era of telly for EastEnders.”
* The Shawshank Redemption is at the Alhambra from March 20-25. Call (01274) 432000 or visit bradford-theatres.co.uk
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