FOLLOWING SOLD-OUT RUNS AT
NOTTINGHAM PLAYHOUSE AND THE YOUNG VIC
PUNCH
BY JAMES GRAHAM
BASED ON THE BOOK ‘RIGHT FROM WRONG’ BY JACOB DUNNE
WILL TRANSFER TO LONDON’S WEST END FOR A STRICTLY LIMITED 10-WEEK RUN
OPENING AT THE APOLLO THEATRE
FROM 22 SEPTEMBER 2025
KPPL Productions, Mark Gordon Pictures and Eilene Davidson Productions in association with the Young Vic and Nica Burns today announce the West End transfer of the critically-acclaimed Nottingham Playhouse production of Punch by Olivier Award-winning playwright, James Graham, based on the book ‘Right From Wrong’ by Jacob Dunne, following sold-out runs at Nottingham Playhouse and the Young Vic.
The ‘powerful’ (Mail on Sunday) production, for which David Shields won the 2024 UK Theatre Award for Best Performance, brings Jacob Dunne’s real-life story to the stage, directed by Nottingham Playhouse Artistic Director, Adam Penford. It will open at the Apollo Theatre for a strictly limited 10-week run playing from Monday 22 September to Saturday 29 November 2025, with an Opening Night charity performance on Friday 26 September.
Jacob, a teenager from Nottingham, spends his Saturday nights seeking thrills with his friends. One fateful evening, an impulsive punch leads to fatal consequences. After serving prison time, Jacob finds himself lost and directionless. Searching for answers, Joan and David – the parents of his victim James – ask to meet, sparking a profound transformation in Jacob’s life. A powerful true story of hope, humanity, and the possibility of change.
The original cast comprising of Alec Boaden (Masters of the Air) as Raf/DS Villers/Sam, Julie Hesmondhalgh (Mr Bates vs the Post Office) as Joan/Nan, Tony Hirst (Boiling Point) as David/Derek/Tony/Raf’s Dad, Shalisha James-Davis (I May Destroy You) as Clare/Nicola, Emma Pallant (Queenie)as Wendy/Sandra/Jacob’s Mum, and David Shields (Black Mirror) as Jacob will reprise their roles in the West End.
James Graham, Playwright, said today, “The honour and responsibility of telling Jacob, Joan and David’s story, and witnessing the impact their real-life journey has on audiences night on night – in Nottingham, and at the Young Vic – I can honestly say it makes Punch one of the most moving and meaningful plays I’ve ever had the privilege to create. Having a further opportunity to see this Nottingham story on a national and now global stage is also, on a personal level, a deeply moving and surprising turn of events.
We want Punch to grab audiences and entertain them, but we’re also pleased to see it contributing to wider conversations about justice and masculinity. In the last week alone we visited Parliament to introduce the issues of Punch to lawmakers, and led a screening and Q&A at HMP YOI Isis as part of a Taking Part project from the Young Vic Theatre, KPPL Productions and Untold Creative Training. I’m grateful to our producers for their wider advocacy, to Adam Penford, and to our incredible cast.”
Adam Penford, Director and Artistic Director of Nottingham Playhouse, said “It’s been an honour developing this play over the last few years with the incredibly talented James Graham. We’re both proudly from Nottingham and it’s a credit to the team at Nottingham Playhouse that this homegrown production continues to gather pace. The story of redemption and hope moves audiences in a way that only theatre can. To witness an audience collectively holding their breath, laugh and cry together, is an unforgettable experience. I’m so pleased that more people will get the opportunity to see the outstanding original cast. I want to thank the West End producers for their support, particularly their dedication to ensuring the community and charitable work offstage remains just as important as the work onstage. I also wanted to acknowledge a debt of gratitude to Joan, David and Jacob, and all the real-life people who appear in the play, for their generosity and trust.”
Kate Pakenham, Producer,also commented, “Phyllida, Mark, Eilene and I feel hugely privileged to be bringing James Graham’s extraordinary play, Punch, to the Apollo Theatre this Autumn. Audiences have shown their need for this story being told in the theatre with standing ovations every performance in Nottingham and now at the Young Vic.
Great storytelling – Mr Bates vs The Post Office and Adolescenceas examples – can change the national, and even international, conversation around urgent issues of the moment. Punch does the same, asking profound questions about who we are to one another and offering a story of immense hope about our capacity for kindness. It is thrilling to be able to bring the production to the West End as it opens simultaneously on Broadway. This will be a trans-Atlantic theatre event of an important and hugely relevant play.
In recognition of the very special nature of this play and production, the West End producers have committed that any producer profit will be used to provide future access to Punch for young people.
We present the play in honour of the incredible people at the centre of the story, with our deepest respect for them all, and in memory of James Hodgkinson.”
Opening on Broadway simultaneously, Punch will also be playing at the Samuel J Friedman Theatre this autumn, produced by Manhattan Theatre Club. Performances at the Young Vic continue through until 26 April 2025.
The West End production will build on the significant education and partnership work around the production at Nottingham Playhouse and at the Young Vic.
This will include post-show conversations with special guests every Tuesday night of the run, performances for school and special interest groups curated by charity partner Go Live Theatre, and the creation of a free learning pack available to all offering insights into the themes of the play and the making of the production. Further detail around these and other initiatives will be announced in due course.
This production is dedicated to James Hodgkinson and all victims of one-punch.
Tickets are on sale now, with Group and Education rates available, via www.PunchThePlay.com.
To register interest for the special performances for school and special interest groups, please contact: [email protected].
KPPL Productions, Mark Gordon Pictures and Eilene Davidson Productions present
The Nottingham Playhouse production of
PUNCH
in association with the Young Vic and Nica Burns
Written by James Graham
Based on the book Right From Wrong by Jacob Dunne
Directed by Adam Penford
Production Design by Anna Fleischle
Lighting Design by Robbie Butler
Sound Design and Composition by Alexandra Faye Braithwaite
Movement Direction by Leanne Pinder
Casting by Christopher Worrall CDG
Associate Direction by Omar Khan
General Management by New Road Theatricals
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CAST
Alec Boaden | Raf/DS Villers/Sam
Television credits include:Masters of the Air (Apple TV), Random Acts (Channel 4) and Jamie Johnson (CBBC).
Alec attended The Television Workshop from 2008-2020 and was a part of Nottingham Playhouse’s Homegrown programme in 2019.
Julie Hesmondhalgh | Joan / Nan
Theatre credits include: An Oak Tree (Young Vic), Punch (Nottingham Playhouse and Young Vic), White Rabbit Red Rabbit (Soho Place),Blue Now (Factory International), The Jungle (St Ann’s Warehouse New York); The Greatest Play in the History of the World (Trafalgar Studios and National Tour); The Report with Lemn Sissay (Royal Court); Mother Courage and Her Children, The Almighty Sometimes, Black Roses: The Killing of Sophie Lancaster, Blindsided (Manchester Royal Exchange); Wit (Manchester Royal Exchange – winner of Best Female Performer 2017 MTAs); There Are No Beginnings (Leeds Playhouse); God Bless the Child (Royal Court).
Television credits include: Alma’s Not Normal; Mr Bates vs the Post Office; You & Me; The Pact; The A Word; The Trouble with Maggie Cole; Dr Who; Catastrophe; Broadchurch (BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actress); Happy Valley; Black Roses (BBC4 – Royal Television Society Best Actress 2014); Moving On; Inside No 9; Cucumber; Hayley Cropper in Coronation Street 1998-2014 (National TV Award 2014, Royal Television Society Award 2013).
Writing: An Actor’s Alphabet (NHB); A Working Diary (Methuen); These I Love, a one woman show.
Julie co-runs Take Back theatre company in Manchester and the fundraising group, 500 Acts of Kindness. She is a supporter of Arts Emergency.
Tony Hirst | David / Derek / Tony / Raf’s Dad
Theatre credits include: Maryland (Take Back Theatre); My White Best Friend North, Hobson’s Choice, Bruntwood Prize Ceremony (The Royal Exchange, Manchester); Hangmen (Wyndam’s Theatre, West End & The Royal Court); I Know Where The Dead Are Buried (Second City Productions) and Strangeways: The Inside Account (Contact Theatre, Manchester).
Television credits include: Riot Women, Boiling Point, Better, Everything I Know About Love, Red Rose, Broken (BBC); Brassic (SKY); Pistol (FX/Disney+); Stephen, Coronation Street, Law & Order: UK (ITV) and Glue, Shameless (Channel 4).
Film credits include: Old Guy (Paramount Movies)
Shalisha James-Davis | Clare / Nicola
Theatre credits include: Romeo and Juliet (Royal Exchange – Nominated, Ian Charleson Awards 2024); The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe (London Theatre Company); Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare’s Globe); Alfred Fagan Award (National Theatre Studio); If We Were Older (Royal National Theatre); The Wolves (Stratford East); Our Country’s Good, Notre Dame (National Theatre).
Television credits include: Casualty, Silent Witness (BBC); Crossfire, Vera (ITV); I May Destroy You (HBO); The Split 2 (Sister Pictures); Alex Rider (Eleventh Hour Films); Next of Kin (Mammoth/ITV) and Class (BBC America).
Film credits include: Mary Queen of Scots (Working Title); Bay of Silence (Silent Bay Films) and Night Out (Unit 9 Films).
Emma Pallant | Jacob’s Mum / Wendy / Sandra
Theatre credits include: Cowbois (RSC/Royal Court); Faustus: That Damned Woman (Storyhouse); A Christmas Carol, Tamar’s Revenge, As You Like It, Henry IV Parts 1 & 2, Laughter in the Dark (RSC); The Dog in the Manger, House of Desires, Pedro, the Great Pretender (RSC/West End); Celebrated Virgins (Theatr Clwyd); Ravens: Spassky Vs Fischer (Hampstead Theatre); An Enemy of the People, LAVA (Nottingham Playhouse); Intra Muros (Park Theatre); William Wordsworth (ETT); The Wind in the Willows (Rose Theatre); Much Ado About Nothing, Romeo and Juliet, As You Like It, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Comedy of Errors, Macbeth (Shakespeare’s Globe); It Just Stopped, Alison’s House (Orange Tree Theatre); Bell, Book and Candle, Bleak House, Great Expectations, Romeo and Juliet (New Vic Theatre); The Cherry Orchard, His Dark Materials, Katherine Desouza (Birmingham Rep); An Ideal Husband (Theatre of Frankfurt); The House of Bernada Alba (Belgrade Theatre); Top Girls (Watford Palace); Cymbeline (Regent’s Park) and Precious Bane (Pentabus).
Television credits include: Queenie; Responsible Child; Casualty; Holby City; Father Brown and Doctors.
Film credits include: All This Time; Heavenly Village Hall and Our Life Together.
David Shields | Jacob
Theatre credits include: Hush (The Gate Theatre); Monster Party (Arcola Theatre) and Arcadia (Oxford Playhouse).
Television credits include: Masters of the Air (Apple TV); Black Mirror (Netflix); Van Der Valk (ITV); The Liberator, Treadstone, The Crown (Netflix); and Doctor Who (BBC).
Film credits include: Freud’s Last Session, Judy and The Bad Education Movie.
CREATIVES
James Graham | Writer
James Graham is a playwright and screenwriter.
Theatre includes: Olivier award winning play Dear England (National Theatre 2023, West End and NT Live. An updated version is currently running at the National Theatre this year, before a national tour, and it is being adapted for TV with the BBC); Tammy Faye (Almeida Theatre 2022, Broadway 2024); Boys from the Blackstuff (adapted from Alan Bleasdale’s seminal TV drama, Liverpool Royal Court 2023, The National Theatre 2024); This House (National Theatre, West End 2017, Olivier-nominated and chosen by popular vote as the best play of the 2010’s for the major theatre publisher Methuen).
Television credits include: Sherwood (BBC, won the Royal Television Society Award for Best Drama and 2 BAFTAS); Quiz (ITV and AMC); Brexit: An Uncivil War (Channel 4 and HBO, nominated for an Emmy and a BAFTA).
Adam Penford | Director
Adam Penford is Artistic Director at Nottingham Playhouse. He trained at Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA).
For Nottingham Playhouse credits include: Dear Evan Hansen (& UK Tour), The Clothes They Stood Up In, A Christmas Carol (& Alexandra Palace & Birmingham Rep & worldwide cinema release), Piaf, Bubble, Holes (& UK Tour), An Enemy of the People, Coram Boy, The Madness of George III (& NT Live), Dick Whittington, Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella, and Wonderland.
For the National Theatre credits include:A Small Family Business (Olivier); Dorfman Opening Gala (Dorfman); Island (Cottlesloe); One Man Two Guvnors, Revival Director (West End/Broadway/UK and International Tour); and NT 50 Years on Stage, Associate Director (Olivier and BBC2).
Other Directing credits include: The Sound of Music (Chichester Festival Theatre); Committee (Donmar Warehouse); The Boys in The Band (Vaudeville/Park Theatre); Platinum (Hampstead Theatre); Unfaithful (Found 111); Watership Down (The Watermill Theatre); Deathtrap (Salisbury Playhouse/UK Tour); Ghost the Musical (The English Theatre, Frankfurt); Stepping Out (Salisbury Playhouse); The Machine Gunners and Run! (Polka Theatre).
Assistant/Associate Director credits include: The Winter’s Tale (Propeller at The Watermill Theatre); The Vagina Monologues (National Tour); 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover (Bush Theatre); Imagine This (Theatre Royal, Plymouth); Dying For It (Almeida) and Charley’s Aunt (Oxford Playhouse).
Anna Fleischle | Production Designer
Anna Fleischle is an Olivier award–winning and Tony-nominated production set and costume designer.
Theatre includes: A Face In The Crowd, Nachtland (Young Vic), The Collaboration (Young/Vic/Broadway), Death Of A Salesman (Young Vic/Broadway/West End), What we talk about when we talk about Anne Frank (Marylebone Theatre); Red Speedo (Orange Tree Theatre); A Child Of Science (Bristol Old Vic); Punch (Nottingham Playhouse); The Pillowman (West End); Death Of A Salesman (Broadway/West End); 2:22 A Ghost Story (West End/LA/Tour/Melbourne); Hangmen (Broadway/West End/Royal Court), Tony Award Nominee 2022, Winner of Olivier Award For Best Set Design, Critic’s Circle Award ‘Best Designer’, Evening Standard Award ‘Best Design’); Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (West End/ UK tour/ LA); House of Shades, The Writer, Before the Party (Almeida); The Kid Stays In The Picture (Royal Court & Complicité); A German Life; A Very Very Very Dark Matter, John Gabriel Borkman, Two Ladies (Bridge Theatre); Much Ado About Nothing, Home I’m Darling (National Theatre/ West End/UK Tour – 2019 Olivier Award Nominee For Best Set Design And Best Costume Design); Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (Old Vic); Beware Of Pity (Schaubühne, Berlin/Complicité).
Opera includes: L’Orfeo (Vienna Staatsoper); Weimar Nightfall (LA Philharmonic/Complicité).
Dance includes: A Christmas Carol (Finnish National Opera); Message In A Bottle (International Tour); John; Can We Talk About This? (DV8 Physical Theatre/ International tour).
Fellowships include: Trustee Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, Founding Member of Scene/Change.
Robbie Butler | Lighting Designer
Originally from Ireland and based in the UK, Robbie is one of only a handful of Life Members of the Association for Lighting Production and Design. Having trained at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, he won the inaugural Profile Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera, an Off West End award for Best Lighting Design, and was also the winner of the 2015 ETC Award. More info at www.robbiebutler.com
Design credits include: Punch (Broadway, Young Vic, Nottingham Playhouse); Keli (National Theatre of Scotland); Reverberation, How to Win Against History (Bristol Old Vic); Death In Venice (Welsh National Opera); The Makropulos Affair (Scottish Opera). As well as work with The Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh; The Tron Theatre, Glasgow; The Mercury Theatre, Colchester; Greek National Opera, Polish National Opera; Den Norske Opera and Ballet; Hofesh Schecter Company; and The English Theatre, Frankfurt.
Upcoming work includes projects with Malmö Opera and Teatro Real, Madrid.
Alexandra Faye Braithwaite |Sound Designer and Composer
Recent credits include Giant, Sound of the Underground, Purple Snowflakes and Titty Wanks (Royal Court); Underdog: The Other Other Brontë (National Theatre); The Real Thing (Old Vic); A Streetcar Named Desire, Chariots of Fire, Anna Karenina, Operation Crucible, Chicken Soup (Sheffield Theatres); A Taste of Honey, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Wuthering Heights, Light Falls (Royal Exchange Theatre); Falkland Sound (Royal Shakespeare Company); The Good Person of Szechwan (Lyric Hammersmith/Sheffield Theatres); Bloody Elle (Lyric Theatre/Traverse Theatre/Royal Exchange); Never Have I Ever, The Narcissist (Chichester Festival Theatre); The Creakers (Southbank Centre/Theatre Royal Plymouth); Abigail’s Party, Shining City, How Not To Drown, The Wonderful World of Dissocia (Theatre Royal Stratford East); Things of Dry Hours (Young Vic); Lost and Found (Factory International); Groan Ups (Mischief Theatre/Vaudeville Theatre/UK Tour); The Cavalcaders (Druid); Good Luck, Studio (Mischief Theatre/Mercury Theatre); Kes (Bolton Octagon); The Climbers, Tom’s Midnight Garden (Theatre By The Lake); A Pretty Shitty Love, A Christmas Carol (Theatr Clwyd); My Name Is Rachel Corrie (Al Madina Theatre, Beirut); Cougar, The Rolling Stone, Dealing with Clair (Orange Tree Theatre); Dublin Carol (Sherman Theatre); Hamlet, Talking Heads, Rudolph (Leeds Playhouse); The Audience, Juicy and Delicious (Nuffield Theatre); The Remains of Maisie Duggan (Abbey Theatre); Toast, Enough (Traverse Theatre); When I Am Queen (Almeida).
Leanne Pinder |Movement Director
Movement Director and Choreographer credits include: Punch (Samuel J Friedman Theatre, NYC/ Young Vic/ Nottingham Playhouse); Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Aberystwyth); Disruption (Park Theatre); Godspell (Wilkes Academy); Spring Awakening (ArtsEd); Pippin, Our House (Wilkes Academy); She Loves Me, The Wizard of Oz, Bare A Rock Opera (Mountview); Lasagna (Short film directed by Hannah Hill).
Associate Director credits include: CAGES (Riverside Studios).
Associate Choreographer credits include: Bugsy Malone (UK Tour); Waitress (UK Tour) and We Will Rock You (UK Tour).
Assistant Choreographer credits include: Groundhog Day (Broadway, NYC); Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Playhouse); American Psycho (Almeida) and Matilda (Broadway, NYC).
Resident Choreographer credits: Waitress (Adelphi).
Other credits include: Frau Blücher in Young Frankenstein (English Theatre Frankfurt); Mrs Teavee in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Aberystwyth); Matilda (Workshop/ Feature Film); Strictly Ballroom the Musical (Piccadilly); Snow White (Palladium); Groundhog Day (Old Vic); Bend it like Beckham (Phoenix); Performance Captain for the 2014 Commonwealth Games Closing Ceremony; Matilda (Cambridge); We Will Rock You (Dominion); Fame (UK Tour); Saturday Night Fever (UK Tour) and Grease (UK Tour).
LISTINGS
Apollo Theatre
Shaftesbury Avenue, London, W1D 7EZ
Box Office: www.PunchThePlay.com
Monday 22 September – Saturday 29 November 2025
Gala Performance: Friday 26 September, 7pm
Performance schedule:
Monday, Wednesday to Saturday, 7.30pm
Tuesday, 7pm (Tuesday performances will be followed by post-show Q&As)
Thursday and Saturday, 2.30pm
Access Performances:
Audio Described Performance: Saturday 1 November, 2.30pm
Captioned Performance: Saturday 15 November, 2.30pm
BSL Performance: Thursday 20 November, 7.30pm
Education Rates:
For Monday to Thursday performances, Band C (£39.50) at £25 and Band D (£25) at £19.50 with a free teacher ticket per group of 10.