Review: The Shawshank Redemption at Wycombe Swan

‘Get busy living or get busy dying’ is the line running constantly through The Shawshank Redemption – Bill Kenwright’s theatrical adaptation of the famous prison story, originally written by Stephen King.

In a production leaning heavily into the idea of hope, even in the bleakest of places, the play follows Andy Dufresne, a banker wrongly convicted of murdering his wife and her lover and sent to Shawshank prison.

From the moment he arrives, Andy is thrown into a brutal world of violent inmates, corrupt guards and an authoritarian warden.

Joe McFadden plays Andy with calm, understated confidence, his character slowly evolving through years of imprisonment.

Opposite him Ben Onwukwe is simply excellent as Red, the inmate who can ‘get things’. Acting as both narrator and participant, he brings warmth and emotional weight to the story.

The supporting cast add humanity in all its colours to the prison world, with Kenneth Jay deeply moving as Brooksie, the long-timer who can’t accept what parole means, and Bill Ward bringing an unsettling calm to his corrupt warden.

For all its dark moments, there’s humour and a sense of humanity here, and by the end, the message lands firmly: hope matters.