The Shawshank Redemption at Wyndham’s Theatre

Venue: Wyndham’s Theatre, London
Genre: Drama
Dates: 4th September until February 2010
Times: Tuesday-Saturday evenings at 7.30pm, Thursday and Saturday matinees at 3pm, Sunday matinees at 4pm
Duration: 3 hours
Prices & Availabilities: Enquire with Gift-Tours!

The play is based on the Stephen King`s novella “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption” (1982). It has been produced by the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin and will come to London for its outstanding performances. The Wyndham's Theatre will host it for the unique period of time from the 4th September until February 2010.

The plot tells the story of harsh life of Andy Dufresne, the financier who is being unjustifiably accused of murdering his wife and her lover. He is sentenced to serve two life sentences in the Shawshank State Penitentiary, where power is in the hands of sadists warders and authoritative manager. The nightmare that is waiting for him there, is full of cruelty and regime. Deprived of his independence and life that he shared with his family and friends, he is left with nothing else but hope that makes him withstand the spirit-crushing routine. Andy declares to be innocent, but behind the bars, assertions like this are heard every day. But as the story continues, there seems to be the truth behind this statements...

Spending many years being imprisoned, he starts to earn respect of other culprits and even makes friends with a long-time convict "Red" Redding. Andy devotes his time to prepare the plan of revenge that will compensate all the humiliation he experienced and surprise everyone, even the closest cell mates.

Arcadia is simultaneously set in two different periods until they converge at the end: in a early 19th century Derbyshire old estate and in the present day.

Moving between these two periods, we are exposed to collisions between science and literature, classicism and romanticism, deterministic and unpredictable theories.

In 1809 we are introduced to young Lady Thomasina Coverly, a curious and rather impetuous girl of thirteen, who foresees some of the great mathematical discoveries of the future. Intelligent and innocent young Thomasina illustrates to her tutor Septimus complex hypothesis and fractal/chaos theory. Septimus realizes that she is capable of remarkable things, but is not aware that his pupil is also growing into womanhood. He is a natural object for Thomasina affections, but meanwhile he is involved in another affair.

Unexpectedly the long time unseen Byron, Septimus’ friend, dropped in the house giving unique comedic and unforeseen effects to the play.

The amusement comes also when the play switches to the present. Two hundreds years later the academic adversaries Hannan and Bernard, a pushy thinker and a popular historian, try to understand what exactly happened in the 1809 in the Derbyshire house puzzling over the clues...

Arcadia is much more than a comedy. It is a literary detective story, a dialectic about the relative merits of classicism and romanticism and a mathematical survey. Arcadia is also a play about love and laughter.

David Leveaux directs this brilliant revival production with a fine classical design by Hildegard Bechtler. Dan Stevens is superbly charismatic as the tutor, Septimus Hodge, Nancy Carroll seductive as his pupil, while in the present day sequences, Samantha Bond (Hannan) and Neil Pearson (Bernard) both gleaming as the waspishly competitive historians.

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