'Punch' Broadway review — Will Harrison and Victoria Clark soar in gripping true story of restorative justice
Read our review of Punch on Broadway, a new drama by award-winning playwright James Graham, inspired by the true story of Jacob Dunne and his memoir Right From Wrong.
“Just that horrible mugshot on the news and yet now... here he is. A person.” On the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre stage in Punch, Victoria Clark delivers versatility, both delicate and voluminous, as a mother wrestling over seeing the humanity of her son’s killer for the first time.
When 19-year-old Jacob Dunne threw an unprovoked punch at paramedic James Hodgkinson outside a Nottingham pub in 2011, he knew nothing else but to run and barricade himself from guilt. But in his 2021 memoir Right From Wrong, he openly details his “one-punch” manslaughter; his 14-month prison sentence; his mutual correspondence with the victim’s parents, Joan Scourfield and David Hodgkinson, through a restorative justice program; their anguished yet enlightening meeting; and his growth into a restorative justice advocate in collaboration with Joan and David.
Playwright James Graham play frames this real-life story within a support group talk, but he avoids the easy pitfall of wallowing in Jacob’s retrospective guilt — his admission of remorse has to be earned by Act 2. Will Harrison emanates a restless, hypermasculine bluster as Jacob, who grew up in an atmosphere of isolation in the Meadows Housing Estate and hurtles from pub to pub. Not without doubts but addicted to adrenaline, Jacob lives in a disorganized, frenetic headspace, illustrated by an animated ensemble (movement direction is by Leanne Pinder). The effect is dizzying, yet Adam Penford’s direction welds Jacob’s fractured existence into a seamless flow.
Some dimension, though, gets lost in translation from book to play. While Punch makes wise omissions to tighten the story, Graham's text and Penford's direction struggle with the pace of other moments. In particular, Act 2 two speeds through another character’s death and Jacob’s reconciliation with his closeted younger brother, Sam (Cody Kostro), who surfaces too intermittently to register as a presence.
The play more effectively steps outside the source material, which was anchored in Jacob’s point of view, by balancing his narration with that of Joan (Clark) and David (Sam Robards) as they endure their son’s death, their fight for a longer sentence for Jacob, and their exasperation at a justice system that sidelines the victims.
Clark inhabits Joan’s journey as a mother contorted into outraged sorrow at Jacob’s trial years before finding herself consoling him like a surrogate parent. Robards's performance feels diminished next to Clark's; he appears to be still tinkering with David’s complex emotions as a father more hesitant to forgive. Still, Robards performs a mundane gesture that becomes monumental: When Jacob knocks over a glass of water (Harrison’s body language loads this action with disquieting ambiguity; was it an accident?), the father crosses the room to clean up the spill and pour his son’s killer a fresh glass.
Mediating this meeting is caseworker Nicola (Camila Cano-Flavia, wearing professional patience). She never talks down, but rather gently guides both the audience and her charges through explanations of restorative justice. Stimulating is the dialogue where the parents question the appropriate gestures before meeting Jacob. Is a handshake right? How should they address each other?
After the blistering meeting, the epilogue threatens to package the tale as an inspirational story. It doesn’t stick the landing, but it leaves one last thought: Forgiveness isn’t a clear-cut route for everyone.
Punch summary
Punch adapts Jacob Dunne’s memoir Right From Wrong: My Story of Guilt and Redemption with artistic license. Framed within a support group talk, the play details Jacob’s socioeconomic origins as a kid raised in the Meadows — a “big old social experiment [...] that basically fucking failed,” Jacob says — by a single mother (Lucy Taylor, fine-tuned as a frazzled woman). He later fell into gangs, drinking, drugs, and brawls.
At breakneck speed, the play chronicles the lead-up to and rippling aftermath of Jacob’s unprovoked act of fatal violence against paramedic James Hodgkinson (to whom the production is dedicated). The act gets Jacob a 14-month prison sentence, after which he unexpectedly ends up corresponding with his victim's parents through a restorative justice program aimed at offering both parties a path forward.
What to expect at Punch
Anna Fleischle’s unfussy scenic design consists of a staircase bridge arched over a rectangular tunnel, a location malleable into everything from the outdoors to hospitals, backgrounded by suggestions of Nottingham buildings.
Three things are pivotal to Punch’s momentum: Robbie Butler’s swaying and flickering lighting design, syncing with Dunne’s chaotic world and the passage of time; Pinder’s movement direction, and an ensemble flanking Harrison as they all rotate through multiple roles. The cluster of moving bodies in Act 1 contrasts the starkness of the Act 2 meeting between Jacob, Joan, and David.
What audiences are saying about Punch
- "Very moving especially the second act, & benefits immensely from fine performances from Will Harrison, Victoria Clark, & Lucy Taylor." - Show-Score DickD
- "A masterful play, gripping from the first minute, beautifully directed in a way that's very theatrical but not over-the-top." - Show-Score GreatAvi
- Punch is also currently running in London's West End, where London Theatre reviewer Anya Ryan called it “a thoughtful exploration of guilt and grief that questions the possibility of redemption.”
- “It was a gorgeous show with a beautiful story that was ultimately too long. Act 1 is largely exposition and the show doesn’t truly shine until Act 2. Insane performances from Will Harrison and Victoria Clark!” - My +1 at the show
Read more audience reviews of Punch on Show-Score.
Who should see Punch
- Punch and its nonfiction source material cover the restorative justice process, its place in the movement to challenge punitive ideas about the prison and justice system, making it a stimulating springboard for questions about forgiveness and accountability.
- If you were charmed by Clark as the titular lead in Kimberly Akimbo, she will charm you again as a British mother swinging from one realization after another. Her chops also extend to briefly portraying Jacob’s chatty grandmother.
- Those who have seen Harrison’s performances as Graham Dunne in Daisy Jones & the Six, David Herold in Manhunt, and Bob Neuwirth in A Complete Unknown may be enthralled by his Punch performance.
Learn more about Punch on Broadway
Punch shows audiences a range of humanity's capabilities, wrapping its action and procedural drama in gripping theatricality. By the end, it invites an emotional meditation on restorative justice.
Photo credit: Punch on Broadway. (Photos by Matthew Murphy)
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