Powerful new play ‘Punch’ by Mansfield writer tells true-life tragedy about violence and forgiveness

Punch, which runs at Nottingham Playhouse until May 25, dramatises Jacob Dunne's memoir of how he killed trainee paramedic James Hodgkinson with a single blow in 2011, his imprisonment for manslaughter, and what happened next.

After a restorative justice meeting with James's parents, his mother, Joan Scourfield, accepted Dunne's actions had been a "stupid mistake" and they helped change his outlook and encouraged him to go to university, where he achieved a first in criminology. Dunne and Joan later went on to campaign against violence.

David Shield shines as Dunne in a wonderful ensemble cast, which also features Julie Hesmondhalgh as Joan and Tony Hirst as James’s father, David, who deliver dignified performances of great power.

Flickering between his cocksure, drugged-up past self, and the stunned, appalled shell of the man he became after the killing, Shield’s performance is the fulcrum around which multiple, superbly-realised characters circle in brilliantly choreographed time.

It’s a powerful portrait of a young man who is profoundly changed by the terrible act he committed and it’s brilliantly served by the fizzing poetry of Graham’s Nottz dialogue and director Adam Penford’s dazzling, headlong staging.

The young man that struck the fatal blow is laid out as clearly as the blueprints for the Meadows in Nottingham: a housing estate designed with the best of intentions that backfired into a warren of criminal escape routes when it became concrete reality.

As well as being very moving, Punch also manages to be extremely funny and captures the intoxicating thrill of being young and out of control.

It’s full of sharp observations about how personal issues, like dyslexia and autism, can lead to volatility and violence – and how larger disruptions, like austerity and poverty, can explain, if not excuse, callous behaviour.

In a culture which brims with tales of violent revenge and predictable redemption, Punch offers that rare thing: a sensitive and truthful exploration of the changes violence can bring about for the loved ones of the perpetrator as well as the victim.

When Dunne finally summons the courage to meet James’s parents the entire audience held its breath. By the end they rose to their feet as one to applaud.

I can’t recommend Punch highly enough and urge everyone to see it: particularly the sort of volatile young men that Jacob Dunne once was.

It’s the best, most authentic Nottingham-based play I’ve seen since the splendid Shebeen, by Mufaro Makubika, in 2018, and marks a new high point for the Playhouse.

Remedi Restorative Services, a restorative justice charity, provided guidance for the play and a ‘talking circle’ has been set up outside the Playhouse to host conversations with the community, hosted by Jacob Dunne with invited panels of guest speakers.

Themes of forgiveness on Friday May 10 (after the 7.30pm performance); education and youth crime on Thursday May 23 (after the 1.30pm performance); masculinity and mental health on Friday May 24 (after the 7.30pm performance).

James Graham’s TV drama Sherwood, set in Ashfield where he went to school, won the Royal Television Society Award for Best Drama and two BAFTAS. It returns to the BBC for its second season this year.