Wycombe Swan, High Wycombe – until Saturday 14th March 2026
Reviewed by Rachel Clark
5*****
Absolutely an outstanding performance
The Shawshank Redemption is an Iconic movie based on the novel by Stephen King. This stage version was adapted by Owen O’Neill and Dave Johns, directed by David Esbjornson.
Andy Dufresne is a banker and gets wrongly accused of the murder of his wife and her lover, it tells of the story of his life in prison and how he becomes the financial advisor and investor for the prison staff and gets the library better set up due to his persistence on writing letters to get more books.
Andy Duresne is played by Joe MacFadden – know for his part as Pc Joe Mason in Heartbeat and Raf in Holby City, he played the part exceptionally well, but the one who stood out to me was Ben Onwukwe who played Ellis ‘Red’ Redding and acted as the narrator – he was absolutely superb, an amazing performer, a great clear voice and kept your attention with a spot on American accent. Bill Ward played Warden Stammas and you couldn’t fault his performance he has over 750 episodes of Coronation Street and Emmerdale.
I could mention all the actors by name and say each one was outstanding, I can’t fault anything, it was just top class, the clear voices, word perfect and the set was brilliant, it was like you were in the film as one on the inmates looking on. The set was all in the prison and it was very realistic; I kept looking at the walls thinking how much work must have gone into creating it and the way the props were added and the sounds in the background of the birds etc – excellent. The costumes all looked authentic, everyone who worked on this performance need a round of applause or more.
A top-class show and definitely not one to be missed.