THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION Launches UK Tour Tonight

Following its hugely successful launch last year Bill Kenwright's new production of The Shawshank Redemption embarks on a national tour for 2016 from tonight 30th August at Theatre Royal Windsor.

Directed by award-winning Broadway director David Esbjornson, this powerful and acclaimed production is adapted from Stephen King's novella 'Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption', which was made into the 1994 Oscar Award winning film The Shawshank Redemption and is regularly voted as the nation's favourite movie.

Andy Dufresne, a banker handed a double life sentence for the brutal murder of his wife and her lover, finds himself incarcerated in the notorious Shawshank penitentiary. Unflinching in his protests of innocence, 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 play examines desperation, injustice, friendship and hope behind the claustrophobic bars of a maximum security facility. The movie starred Tim Robbins as Andy Dufresne and Morgan Freeman as Ellis 'Red' Redding and was nominated for seven Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Actor for Freeman.

Stephen King is one of the most popular authors of contemporary literature and has written 54 published novels which have sold more than 350 million copies around the world, many of which have been adapted into feature films.

David Esbjornson is an award-winning international director and his work includes the Broadway debut and West End productions of Driving Miss Daisy starring Vanessa Redgrave, James Earl Jones and Boyd Gaines, for which David received the Whatsonstage Award for Best Revival for the West End run. In 2005, he directed the West End premiere of Aaron Sorkin's A Few Good Men, produced by Bill Kenwright and starring Rob Lowe.

This powerful acclaimed production was adapted by Owen O'Neill and Dave Johns with design by Gary McCann and lighting by Chris Davey.

For more information, visit Kenwright.com.

SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION 2016 UK TOUR:

30th August - 3rd September Box Office: 01753 853 888

Theatre Royal Windsor Website: theatreroyalwindsor.co.uk

5th - 10th September Box Office: 0843 208 6000

The Lowry, Salford Website: thelowry.com

12th - 17th September Box Office: 01227787787

The Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury Website: marlowetheatre.com

19th - 24th September Box Office: 01934 645544

Playhouse Theatre, Weston-Super-Mare Website: parkwoodtheatres.co.uk

27th September - 1st October Box Office: 01902 429 212

Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton Website: grandtheatre.co.uk

3rd - 8th October Box Office: 0116 242 3595

Curve Theatre, Leicester Website: curveonline.co.uk

10th - 15th October Box Office: 01293 553636

The Hawth, Crawley Website: parkwoodtheatres.co.uk

17th - 22nd October Box Office: 023 8071 1811

Mayflower, Southampton Website: mayflower.org.uk

31st October - 5th November Box Office: 020 3285 6000

Churchill Theatre, Bromley Website: churchilltheatre.co.uk

14th - 19th November Box Office: 01253 625252

Blackpool Opera House Website: wintergardensblackpool.co.uk

21st - 26th November Box Office: 0844 871 7627

Theatre Royal, Glasgow Website: atgtickets.com

28th November - 3rd December Box Office: 0114 249 6000

Sheffield Lyceum Theatre Website: sheffieldtheatres.co.uk

5th December - 10th December Box Office: 01702 351135

Cliffs Pavilion, Southend Websites: southendtheatres.org.uk