Punch
25 March 2025
Young Vic
5.0 out of 5.0 stars
Punch, currently running at the Young Vic until 26 April, but it won’t be easy to get tickets as it’s almost completely sold out. Of course there’s always returns to hope for!
Punch tells the real life story of Jacob Dunne, a young man who killed a stranger with one punch in an unprovoked attack. The event and its consequences completely changed Jacob’s life, not just the custodial sentence he received for his manslaughter conviction, but especially the restorative justice work he did with the parents of his victim. After turning his life around, studying criminology, and doing activism work to help young underprivileged men out of the circle of hopelessness and violence, he wrote a book about his experience. This book was the basis for the play, that tells the story through Jacob’s lens.
Alec Boaden plays Jacob, inhabiting the large, circular stage with an overpass bridge dominating the centre, with ease and charisma. Starting at the wild partying and brawling days that led to the fatal encounter and leading through the sentence and aftermath, interspersing scenes of his childhood and group therapy sessions. Telling the story with heart and honesty, not painting over the bad decisions but putting them in perspective with the young man’s life.
The stark deprived-council-estate look of the stage design sets the mood extremely well, with the biggest stand-out of the production design being Robbie Butler’s stunning lighting design. The myriad of lighting effects perfectly frame and accompany the show, setting moods, highlighting moments, effortlessly creating entire worlds just through changing the tone and intensity of the light. A stunning feat that elevates the production into a visually absorbing sensational staging of a gut wrenching story, deepening the emotional impact, both negative and positive.
The dynamically choreographed movement adds a contemporary edge, resulting in a cohesive, beautiful, deeply impactful production of a very important story. I cannot recommend and laud this show enough!
