{"id":7754,"date":"2015-11-24T19:05:28","date_gmt":"2015-11-24T19:05:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/?p=7754"},"modified":"2015-11-24T19:05:28","modified_gmt":"2015-11-24T19:05:28","slug":"review-shawshank-redemption-new-theatre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2015\/11\/24\/review-shawshank-redemption-new-theatre\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: The Shawshank Redemption at the New Theatre"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>THIS\u00a0captivating adaptation played out at Cardiff&#8217;s New Theatre is a UK-wide tour celebrating the 21st anniversary of the movie of the same name.<br \/>\nThe 1994 film brings to life Stephen King&#8217;s\u00a0Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption<em>,\u00a0<\/em>a tale of wrongly convicted Andy Dufresne and his 20-year struggle in the Shawshank maximum security penitentiary.<br \/>\nBill Kenwright&#8217;s production, which began on August 18, has already travelled to 11 UK venues. The play runs from Monday November 23 until Saturday November 28 in Cardiff before finishing the tour in Milton Keynes next week.<br \/>\n<figure id=\"attachment_7795\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7795\" style=\"width: 740px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/20151124_102109-copy1.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-7795\" src=\"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/20151124_102109-copy1.jpg\" alt=\"The New Theatre, Cardiff\" width=\"740\" height=\"300\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-7795\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-7795\" src=\"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/20151124_102109-copy1.jpg\" alt=\"The New Theatre, Cardiff\" width=\"740\" height=\"300\" \/><\/noscript><\/a> The New Theatre, Cardiff<\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\nIan Kelsey, mostly recognisable for his roles on British television in BBC&#8217;s Doctors and ITV&#8217;s Emmerdale, played the lead\u00a0protagonist Dufresne. The introverted Dufresne learns he can&#8217;t survive incarceration alone and strikes up a friendship with Ellis &#8216;Red&#8217; Redding, a self-proclaimed &#8220;man who can get things&#8221;.<br \/>\nPatrick Robinson&#8217;s stellar depiction of Red was a lynchpin in the play&#8217;s success.\u00a0<span style=\"line-height: 1.5\">His more humorous play on Morgan&#8217;s Freeman&#8217;s film character was coupled with compelling, dramatic narration through Andy&#8217;s prison term.\u00a0Robinson&#8217;s extensive theatre background<\/span><span style=\"line-height: 1.5\">\u00a0of\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"line-height: 1.5\">over 30 stage productions, showed in his ability to grab the performance and steer it through fast-changing sets and plot twists. \u00a0<\/span><br \/>\n<figure id=\"attachment_7805\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7805\" style=\"width: 740px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/SHAWSHANK-copy.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-7805\" src=\"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/SHAWSHANK-copy.jpg\" alt=\"Patrick Robinson as Ellis 'Red' Redding (left) and Ian Kelsey as Andy Dufresne (right)\" width=\"740\" height=\"300\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-7805\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-7805\" src=\"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/SHAWSHANK-copy.jpg\" alt=\"Patrick Robinson as Ellis 'Red' Redding (left) and Ian Kelsey as Andy Dufresne (right)\" width=\"740\" height=\"300\" \/><\/noscript><\/a> Patrick Robinson as Ellis &#8216;Red&#8217; Redding (left) and Ian Kelsey as Andy Dufresne (right)<\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\nThe nature of Dufresne&#8217;s aloof\u00a0character can be disengaging, but Kelsey grew into the performance as his character became more assured in the storyline. The relationship between Dufresne and &#8216;the sisters&#8217;, the prison brutes who beat and rape fresh-faced inmates, was a completely engaging facet of the first act.<br \/>\nAn unappealing\u00a0character trait however came from Rooster, one of &#8216;the sisters&#8217;, whose bedevilling cackle initially brought comedy but grew to cringeworthy annoyance throughout the piece. As the performance continued, Rooster&#8217;s character, and hideous laugh, thankfully diminished.<br \/>\nDirector David Esbjornson used a series of lighting effects and period music to display the progression of time which is seemingly easier to execute on the big screen. The unpalatable issues of gang rape and suicide are dealt with in a manner which is both easy to watch and intense, with a combination of off-stage voiceovers and implication.<br \/>\nThough the pace began to tire at the end of the first act, the second act was welcomed with the timely introduction of bashful young car thief Tommy Williams, played by George Evans. Evans&#8217;s vibrancy gave the performance the much-needed momentum\u00a0to drive the latter stages and keep\u00a0the audience engaged. The character was carried out with seamless naivety and drew viewers in\u00a0to empathise with the\u00a0starry-eyed youth.<br \/>\nPerhaps the most satisfying\u00a0surprise was the re-introduction of Rico, a hot-headed, passionate Italian-American from King&#8217;s\u00a0book. The character who was omitted from Frank Darabont&#8217;s film version provided light humour to cut through the reality of the very stark themes of\u00a0prison life. Declan Perring&#8217;s eccentric representation of\u00a0Rico&#8217;s\u00a0absent-minded piety brought\u00a0countless\u00a0gags at the hapless convict.<br \/>\nThe tension between Andy Dufresne and Warden Stammas is an engrossing sub-plot throughout the narrative. The stand-off between the two is gripping, but Owen O&#8217;Neill&#8217;s rendering\u00a0of Warden Stammas, though stern and believable, was tarred with an off-putting inability to remove his hands from his pockets almost the entire time he was on stage.<br \/>\nAnother warm performance came from Ian Barritt who portrayed Brooksie, the elderly prison librarian known as Brooks in the 1994 film namesake. The issue which long-term prisoner Brooksie faces of combatting the ever-changing outside world upon parole, is played with a loveable ignorance that encapsulates the character.<br \/>\nThe concluding monologue delivered by the jaded\u00a0Red was the\u00a0cornerstone of the act. The poignant\u00a0oration\u00a0to the parole officer\u00a0held court in a\u00a0powerful\u00a0speech by Robinson, which grabbed\u00a0the audience to complete attention.<br \/>\nRating: 7\/10<br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>THIS\u00a0captivating adaptation played out at Cardiff&#8217;s New Theatre is a UK-wide tour celebrating the 21st anniversary of the movie of the same name. The 1994 film brings to life Stephen King&#8217;s\u00a0Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption,\u00a0a tale of wrongly convicted Andy Dufresne and his 20-year struggle in the Shawshank maximum security penitentiary. Bill Kenwright&#8217;s production, which began on August 18, has already travelled to 11 UK venues. The play runs from Monday November 23 until Saturday November 28 in Cardiff [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":248,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,292],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-7754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Shawshank Redemption at the New Theatre, Cardiff<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A review of the stage version of The Shawshank Redemption at the New Theatre, Cardiff.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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