Punch – Young Vic

A heartbreaking true story of male violence, working class anger and redemption. And a critical exploration of the systems which breed this. Punch at the Young Vic is essential viewing.

James Graham’s Punch is a true story, harrowingly so. In 2011 Nottingham city centre, nineteen-year-old Jacob Dunne, threw one punch at a complete stranger, 28-year-old James Hodgkinson. Nine days later, Hodgkinson was dead and the punch, an act of murder. Based on the book Right from Wrong by Jacob Dunne, Graham’s script pays tender tribute to all those involved and leaves you unquestioning that – through the brutal lack of opportunity which fostered Jacob’s behaviour – everyone in this story is a victim.

Directed by Adam Penford, the script is brought to stage with a sensitivity and nuance that is vital for truth-based drama. Moments which could be hyperbolised are left understated, but their impact ricochets. You are left with the haunting feeling that nothing needs to be exaggerated, because you know it happened. The plot cleverly highlights this, jumping between the past and presence tense to demand an audience be ever analytical of what they are watching.

The writing is fast paced, demanding great leaps between moments, stakes and energies. This keeps you hooked, the 2.5 hour long production flies by. There were moments which lagged, transitions which occasionally felt clunky, but rarely in a way which impacted the performance significantly. This was down to timing rather than performance, however, as – a star-studded cast, Penford directed the cast exceptionally.

Roles were predominantly multiroling. Emma Pallant (Wendy, Sandra, Mum), Shalisha James-Davis (Clare, Nicola) and Alec Boaden (Raf, DS Villers, Sam) all transitioning between characters effortlessly. Stark differences in physicality between the kids on the estate, the social workers and Jacob’s family – to name a few – meant the extent of this multiroling was never confusing. On the contrary, impressive and gratifying to experience. A testament to their acting.

David Shields as Jacob was utterly heartbreaking. Opening the production as a testosterone and vodka fuelled teen, from the offset we are lulled into a world where violence and extreme behaviour go hand-in-hand with survival. Shields is energised and erratic, pumping the stage with momentum. We are led by the hand through the night of the crime, and as the performance leaps forward to Jacob’s therapy session recounting the incident from a shame-ridden perspective, crucially, we are demanded to interrogate it. Here, Shields offers a performance of two roles: Jacob before and after the crime. An overconfident teen and a guilt ridden criminal. Both of them lost, both of them angry, and both crafted perfectly.

His performance is honest and vulnerable, a tribute to the working-class men who, products of brutal environments, become lost to an unforgiving system. But though this is the story of a murder and boys lost to violence (both perpetrators and victims), it is also the story of extraordinary resilience. Forgiveness.

Playing the parents of James, the victim, Tony Hirst (David, Derek, Tony, Raf’s Dad) and Julie Hesmondhalgh (Joan and Nan) bring to the stage the best of humanity. Dignity and strength through grief. Hesmondhalgh, as a mother coping with the unimaginable, is a force of strength and kindness. Hirst, playing a father who forgives understandably less readily, allows the true weight of what has happened to permeate the stage and story. As a pair, they bring a nuance to the stage which makes you feel as if you have met them for real. Characters who are moving, tense and soothingly funny.

Punch is a production which takes full advantage of both the theatre and its creatives’ capabilities. Robbie Butler’s lighting design was exceptional. Crucial in world-building, lighting transformed a reasonably bare stage inventively time and time again. Butler not only skilfully moved action from prisons to chapels, nightlife to counselling sessions and all in between, but pulled the audience into the action continually. A flare gun to the back of the auditorium or a club-scene into the crowd kept both on and off stage visually intriguing.

Anna Fleischle’s set was equally impressive and paired with the lighting in perfect harmony. The stage was, for the most part, bare: urban, stark, grey and unfriendly. Like the estate itself, characterless outside these qualities except for the maze-like multilevel pathway and metal bars which form it. This was both a brilliant multipurpose structure (estate, church, prison) and a fantastic metaphor – a cage entrapping all the characters – most of all Jacob – to the confined expectations of their challenging upbringing.

Alexandra Faye Braithwaite was the sound designer and composer, bringing – for the most part – both unnerving tension and world-transformation to scenes. Occasionally the design felt jarring to the naturalism of a scene, working best during moments of high intensity.

An exploration of class, opportunity and isolation, it is important to note that this was first performed in the city where the story unfolds, at the Nottingham Playhouse. A venue which has suffered a 100% cut to its Arts Council funding. Food for thought when considered against the messages which weave through this story.

What this production does so brilliantly is highlight the value of community, support systems for men lost outside society, and the support which is lacking – educationally, socially, culturally and emotionally.

As the script elaborates, there are five biological processes which are a necessity to living. James Graham’s Punch goes to demonstrate, actually, we all need a lot more than this. And in this story of exceptional tragedy and exceptional strength, compassion and community are at the core of it.

Running 1st Mar 2025 – 26th Apr 2025, buy tickets here: Punch | Young Vic website

Reviewer: Sadie Pearson

Reviewed: 6th March 2025

North West End UK Rating: