The play has opened in Windsor and will begin its UK tour next week, visiting venues in Leeds, Brighton, Richmond, Birmingham, Aberdeen, Newcastle, Norwich, Cheltenham, Woking, Milton Keynes and Cardiff.
Starring television's Ian Kelsey and Patrick Robinson, The Shawshank Redemption tells the story of Andy Dufresne, a man serving a life sentence in the notorious Shawshank prison. Realising he cannot survive life behind bars, he strikes up an unlikely friendship with prison fixer Red and soon begins to hatch a plan to escape. Based on the Stephen King short story, it is directed for the stage by David Esbjornson with the lighting design by Chris Davey.
Chris comments, "Shawshank is a male-dominated, testosterone world yet there are moments of true friendship and poetic beauty. Gary McCann, the set designer, has created a world in which the jail consists of towering, oppressive cells and windows yet with masses of texture to the walls. The overall layout allows for lots of space for cross light so I've aimed to be as sculptural as possible with my design."
Chris drew on White Light's extensive equipment range to help him light the world of The Shawshank Redemption. He comments: "The get-in for the show is one day for each venue so I had to use the most effective and efficient equipment possible. Fortunately, White Light was able to provide this for me."
The equipment used included Martin MAC Viper Performances, Martin MAC TW1 80v and Phillips Showline SL Par 150s.
White Light's moving light hire manager Rachel Gale comments, "As with any piece of theatre we work on, the equipment we provide plays an important role in the show. It helps to create different worlds, intensify scenes and hopefully elevate the overall production."
(Jim Evans)
