As the curtain lifted, I think I may have gasped at the hugely impressive stage, transformed into the cold, barred up Shawshank Prison. Though destined to be compared with Frank Darabont’s classic 1994 film, Owen O’Neill and Dave John’s interpretation of Stephen King’s short story immediately began ploughing its own furrows. The opening sounds of sirens, the introduction of Warden Stammas (Mitchell Mullen) and the biblical stripping of Andy Dufresne and the other ‘fresh meat’, are clearly geared towards rattling free of the preconceptions, aiming to present something new and different. Andy Dufresne is convicted of murdering his wife and her lover and sent to the notorious Shawshank Prison to serve two life sentences. Stripped of his life, family and freedom, Andy is forced to endure a spirit-crushing routine. But with his quiet strength and inner courage there is one thing that Andy never loses - and that is hope.