In May 2020, director Adam Penford queued up a new podcast from BBC’s Radio 4 called “The Punch.”
“Aged 18, Jacob Dunne threw a single punch in a drunken brawl outside a pub in Nottingham,” begins the transcript of the inaugural episode “Nothing Was the Same Again.” “His victim, James Hodgkinson, died in hospital nine days later and Jacob was convicted of manslaughter. Now 27, Jacob has a young family and has just completed a degree, but it was only after taking part in restorative justice that he began to turn his life around. Meeting face-to-face with James’ parents had a profound impact on both Jacob and the Hodgkinsons, and the resulting relationship has changed Jacob’s life in unexpected ways.”
As Penford told Broadway News, “It was a story about people coming together, and I was aware that I was listening to it within the context of the pandemic, where no one could be together.” Penford is the artistic director of U.K. regional theater Nottingham Playhouse and, inspired by this story of forgiveness and healing, reached out to Dunne on social media asking if he’d be interested in collaborating. As Penford recalled, “I said, ‘I think theater would be the perfect platform to tell your story.’”
Penford and Dunne tapped Tony Award-nominated playwright James Graham to pen the drama, now known as “Punch,” which debuted at the Nottingham Playhouse in 2024 and begins Broadway performances with Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC) on Sept. 9. Graham — like Penford and Dunne — is a Nottingham native and captures the town and its unique culture as if it is a character in the story.
That close, personal lens is one of the reasons Penford thought of Graham in the first place. “He writes plays which are both simultaneously intimate and domestic and very personal, but set against the backdrop of sociopolitical issues in a way that doesn’t feel effortful — in a way that the audience won’t feel they’re at a lecture,” Penford said. “It’s entertaining and witty and moving, but it has depth to it.”
Graham was able to achieve that level of profundity by, according to him, working more closely with the originator of a story (Dunne) than he ever had before. “It was really different,” Graham confided. “This just felt like it required a different level of engagement with all the people involved. … Jacob has stayed at my house, I’ve stayed at his, it’s a very intimate relationship.”
That intimacy extends to the cast. “I was lucky enough to go to Nottingham and spend the day with [Jacob] and tour around the city and see the places that we talk about in the play,” noted actor Will Harrison, who makes his Broadway debut in the role of Jacob. “Our play begins on a bridge in the city and, at one point during the day, I found myself on that bridge with Jacob as he was describing that memory to me.”
Those personal connections have extended to other cast members, like Tony winner Victoria Clark who plays Joan, the mother of the victim James, and Tony nominee Sam Robards, who plays David, James’ father.
Listen below to the latest episode of “Broadway Press Day with Ruthie Fierberg” to get inside the acting processes of the full company, learn what to expect from the Broadway bow of “Punch” and understand the impact the play could have.
