Review: PUNCH - Leeds Playhouse (09/04/26)

Another triumph from James Graham, with this gripping yet heartfelt true story

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They say when you're young you make more mistakes than at any other point in your life, but that whether you're young or old, each one is a valuable learning experience. What do you do, then, when a drunken night out turns deadly, and before you know it, a single violent action has turned not only your life, but those of countless others, completely upside down? Double Olivier Award winner James Graham has all the answers to your questions, as he tells the harrowing true story of James Hodgkinson, a trainee paramedic who is tragically killed after a young, restless, and thoroughly directionless Nottingham teen named Jacob Dunne impulsively throws a single punch his way.

This reckless moment of blind rage sees a cascade of consequences for the young man and those around him, however, through the experimental "Restorative Justice" programme, it ends up having a surprisingly positive, healing effect on the troubled young man. Through building a relationship of sorts with James' grieving parents, he is provided with a remarkable opportunity to not only make amends with those he had wronged, but to become a voice of reason to others, in the hope that other youngsters wouldn't make the same mistakes he made.

Jack James Ryan (credit: Pamela Raith)

Initially presented as a support group, Jacob (Jack James Ryan) acts as our principal storyteller, with the remaining performers flowing in and out of the story like water as needed, with the events that unfolded told through flashbacks and memories. Safe for the occasional moment of narrative fragmentation, Adam Penford's direction presents beautifully the unabridged angst, agony, and emotional torment experienced by Jacob throughout this journey of accountability and subsequent redemption, with the build up to the action we know is coming proving particularly palpable. Not only this, but Graham's text also provides a devastatingly real, raw portrayal of the various ways in which people deal with grief, most notably through James' parents, as they share of nightmares, and the saved, undeleted final voicemail from their recently departed son.

It is the depiction of Jacob's character on which much of the show's momentum hinges, and lead actor Ryan does not miss a beat, as this is a mature, masterfully graded performance that perfectly captures the development from the troubled, out of control adolescent, into the thoroughly humbled and reformed young man seeking to atone for what he did. In particular, the build of layers into the character, both through Ryan's performance and Graham's text, was nothing short of astounding.

Matthew Flynn, Finty Williams, Grace Hodgett Young, Jack James Ryan (credit: Pamela Raith)

Though there were plenty of impressive supporting character portrayals, particular plaudits must be reserved for both Laura Tebbutt and Finty Williams, as Jacob and James' mothers respectively. It is every mother's worst nightmare to find out their child has been caught up in any trouble, and Tebbutt shows no restraint in evoking the sheer torture at finding out Jacob, her sweet boy, had been caught up in such a tragedy. On the obverse of this though, Williams brings a fervency yet distinct maternal warmth to her take on Joan, seeking to understand rather than angrily condemn; a truly remarkable woman in real life, and depicted as such through a simply stellar performance.

Director Penford has quite rightly kept the focus on the innate humanity of the story, in spite of an impressive array of visual embellishments, especially Robbie Butler's inventive lighting design. This play superbly encapsulates the ugly nature of how one single mistake can have truly devastating consequences, but also how humanity, understanding, kindness and compassion are far more potent healing tools than vengeance, hatred or resentment, which makes it perhaps one of the most profoundly relevant new pieces of theatre in recent years.

★★★★☆ (4*)

"Punch" runs at Leeds Playhouse until the 11th of April, followed by a run at Theatre Royal Plymouth (more info/tickets)