ACTOR Joe McFadden has been announced as the leading man in a new British tour of The Shawshank Redemption.
Adapted from a novella by Stephen King, the acclaimed stage production from Bill Kenwright Ltd returns with a string of shows later this year, including seven performances in Belfast.
Second-generation Irish actor McFadden will star as Andy Dufresne, who was first played by Tim Robbins in the acclaimed 1994 movie that garnered seven Oscar nominations.
Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman, who starred as Andy Dufresne and Red in the 1994 big screen adaptation, speak about the film ahead of a screening in Hollywood last year (Image: Presley Ann / Getty Images for TCM)Glasgow-born McFadden rose to fame in the acclaimed 1996 BBC miniseries The Crow Road, an adaptation of Iain Banks' novel of the same name.
He also had prominent roles in both Heartbeat and Holby City, while in 2017 he won the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing with partner Katya Jones.
However, he is no stranger to the stage, having played Caractacus Potts in the British tour of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang in 2006-07 and the Narrator in The Rocky Horror Show in 2023.
Last year, he starred alongside second-generation Irish actress Stacey Dooley in the sixth West End production of Danny Robins' acclaimed play, 2:22 A Ghost Story.
Friendship and hope
Based on King's Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption from his 1982 collection, Different Seasons, the stage production examines friendship and hope behind the claustrophobic bars of a maximum-security facility.
In the story, Andy is handed a double life sentence for the brutal murders of his wife and her lover, despite his protests of innocence.
Incarcerated in the notorious Shawshank facility, he quickly learns that no one can survive alone.
Andy strikes up an unlikely friendship with the prison fixer, Red — played by Morgan Freeman in the 1994 movie — and things start to take a slight turn for the better.
However, when the warden decides to bully Andy into subservience and exploit his talents for accountancy, a desperate plan is quietly hatched.
Reg E. Cathey (Red) and Kevin Anderson (Andy) perform pieces from the show the night before its world premiere at the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin on May 19, 2009 (Image: Sasko Lazarov / RollingNews.ie)As well as McFadden, the forthcoming tour also stars Ben Onwukwe as Red, Bill Ward as the warden and Graham Elwell as Hadley.
It has been adapted by Dave Johns and Co. Tyrone native Owen O'Neill.
The pair originally adapted the story more than 15 years ago, when it had its world premiere at the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin in 2009, presented by Lane Productions and directed by Peter Sheridan.
In that production, Kevin Anderson (Sleeping With the Enemy) played Andy and the late Reg E. Cathey (The Wire) took on the role of Red.
The latest Bill Kenwright Ltd production — directed by David Esbjornson — begins its tour at the Theatre Royal in Windsor on September 5 and concludes at the Grand Theatre in Leeds on May 23, 2026.
It will run at the Grand Opera House in Belfast from September 30 until October 4.
For full tour dates and to book tickets, please click here.
