Popular culture is no stranger to the prison redemption arc. From Orange is the New Black to Prison Break, audiences have long been confronted with media that traces the laborious journey from incarceration to rehabilitation. Although in a slightly different vein, Stephen King’s 1982 novella The Shawshank Redemption is one of the foremost texts in this literary genre, following the story of Andy Dufresne who was accused and found guilty of murdering his wife and her lover. Maintaining his innocence over the course of the plot, Andy’s time at the Shawshank State Penitentiary is one of brutality, hardship and, as the title suggests, eventually redemption, even if in a slightly odd form.

Translated into a film in 1994 starring Morgan Freeman, Tim Robbins and more, it has since received widespread critical acclaim. More recently, it has been adapted into a play by Dave Johns and Owen O’Neill which is currently showing at the Cambridge Arts Theatre until Saturday. This is an exceptionally tricky production to stage well, leaving Director David Esbjornson with the difficult task of having to live up to the successes of one of the most celebrated films of all time while also condensing a twenty-year period into a 2-hour production.

“[Onwukwe] embodied the jadedness and wisdom of a hardened inmate”

Ben Onwukwe as Ellis ‘Red’ Redding was the standout of the show, acting as a steady voice of narration over the course of the play. He embodied the jadedness and wisdom of a hardened inmate. His ability to walk the line between a jokester and a figure of authority provided the audience with crucial insight into the complex hierarchy of prison politics.

Beyond Onwukwe, the rest of the cast, unfortunately, failed to grasp the grittiness and moral complexity that makes both the novella and film so fascinating. Joe Absolom as Andy Dufresne, whom all of the plot centres around, was a timid and largely undeveloped character. In contrast to Onwukwe’s Red, whose character was exceptionally animated and flexible, Absolom’s Andy at times blended into the broader cast. He failed to fully encapsulate the wittiness, ingenuity and quiet intelligence that makes Dufresne such an intriguing character.

Although the play is meant to cover a twenty-year period, tracing Andy’s attempts at escaping from the Shawshank prison and his eventual success, it was hard to gain a sense of passing time in the production. Little was done with costuming or staging to indicate ageing, missing a vital element of the novella – it would have been far more effective if the audience could see and empathise with Andy’s long and difficult path to freedom.

Despite this, Gary McCann’s set design was exceptional and allowed for moments of especially clever staging. The set was at once a prison courtyard, a mahogany-clad office and the inmates’ sleeping quarters, allowing characters to seamlessly transition between the three different spaces. The barren and cold set allowed the characters to embody the stasis of a prison yard and showcased the idleness of days spent under the watchful eye of the prison guards. Similarly, Andy Graham’s sound design was impressive, visibly striking a chord with the audience. Tracks from the Isley Brothers, the Beatles, Johnny Cash and more helped capture the essence of 1950s prison blues.

Ultimately, although the production was indeed successful in broadly capturing the soul of twentieth-century America, it found little success elsewhere. The core of the novella and the film was largely lost and if you’re going as a fan of the film, this will be a disappointing watch.

The Shawshank Redemption is showing at the Cambridge Arts Theatre from Monday 13 to Saturday 18 March, 7:30pm