The 2016 tour of The Shawshank Redemption, inspired by the 1994 Oscar-winning film and based on the short novel by Stephen King, will open on 31 August 2016 at Theatre Royal Windsor and will star Paul Nicholls, Jack Ellis and Ben Onwukwe.
It follows Andy Dufresne (Paul Nicholls), a banker handed a double life sentence in the notorious Shawshank penitentiary for the brutal murder of his wife and her lover. Protesting his innocence, Andy strikes up an unlikely friendship with the prison fixer Red (Ben Onwukwe), but Warden Stammas (Jack Ellis) decides to bully Andy into subservience and exploit his talents for accountancy.
The production opens at Theatre Royal Windsor on 31 August before touring to The Lowry in Salford, Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury, Playhouse Theatre in Weston-Super-Mare, Wolverhampton Grand, Curve Theatre Leicester, The Hawth in Crawley, Southampton's Mayflower, Derby Theatre, Churchill Theatre in Bromley, New Oxford Theatre, Blackpool Opera House, Theatre Royal in Glasgow, Sheffield Lyceum Theatre and Palace Theatre in Southend.
The script was adapted from King's Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption by Owen O'Neill and Dave Johns. It will be directed by David Esbjornson with design by Gary McCann and lighting by Chris Davey.