The acclaimed stage adaptation of The Shawshank Redemption, based on Stephen King’s 1982 novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, comes to Leeds Grand Theatre from Tue 19 to Sat 23 May 2026.

Adapted by Owen O’Neill and Dave Johns and starring Joe McFadden in the role of the wrongly convicted Andy Dufresne, Ben Onwukwe as inmate Ellis ‘Red’ Redding and Bill Ward as the corrupt prison warden Stammas, this thrilling staging examines desperation, injustice, friendship and hope behind the claustrophobic bars of a maximum-security facility.

Premise: Despite protests of his innocence, Andy Dufresne is handed a double life sentence for the brutal murder of his wife and her lover. Incarcerated at the notorious Shawshank facility, he quickly learns that no one can survive alone.

Andy strikes up an unlikely friendship with the prison fixer Red, and things take a slight turn for the better. However, when Warden Stammas decides to bully Andy into subservience and exploit his talents for accountancy, a desperate plan is quietly hatched…

The 1994 feature film of The Shawshank Redemption, starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman, was nominated for seven Academy Awards. It went on to become the one of the nation’s favourite movies and a huge source of inspiration to film makers, with The National Film Registry citing the film as “culturally, historically, aesthetically significant”

To book online leedsheritagetheatres.com or call 0113 243 0808