BOLTON’S Paul Nicholls took to the stage tonight for the opening of The Shawshank Redemption at The Lowry.

The production is currently on its first UK tour and will be on in the Lyric Theatre until Saturday.

The Smithills-born actor is taking on the role of Andy Dufresne, a banker handed a double life sentence for the brutal murder of his wife and her lover, who finds himself incarcerated in the notorious Shawshank penitentiary.

It is a role made iconic by Tim Robbins in the acclaimed Academy Award-nominated film of the same name.

This stage adaption, however, returns to the story's roots from the collection of short-stories, Different Seasons, by Stephen King.

It follow’s Andy from his first day imprisoned and the years which follow as he strikes up an unlikely friendship with the prison fixer Ellis ‘Red’ Redding and faces off against sadistic jail mates and is exploited by the corrupt Warden Stammas, all the while protesting his own innocence of the crime he has been sentenced for.

Director David Esbjornson has managed to bring the claustrophobic world of ‘The Shank’ to the stage, trapping the production within the prison walls, only to release it when our characters have truly reached their freedom.

It is dark at times, atmospheric, and unnerving at its most dramatic points, but there is also a heart thanks to a great cast.

Guide and narrator Ben Onwukwe as Red, brings sympathy, humour and the right amount of tragedy to the role.

While many will be used to hearing his immortal opening lines read by Morgan Freeman, Onwukwe became the heart and soul of this production, embodying everything that makes Red such a beloved character.

Equally, Nicholls proved he was up to the challenge of playing the seemingly awkward and distant Dufresne, growing into the role over the course of the show and as the prisoner is push to the brink of sanity.

Mention too to Jack Ellis who was unnerving and menacing as Warden Stammas, Nicholas Banks as the loyal Tommy Williams and the rest of the cast who brought humour, menace and a story of real friendship to the Salford Quays stage.