Why a play about a fatal punch has gripped younger audiences and will tour schools | Theatre

KWhen thousands of school children came to see James Graham’s play Punch in the West End, the playwright, actors and producers were impressed by one thing. Despite fears that social media would erode attention spans, students were immersed in the lecture for two and a half hours, with many continuing for Q&A sessions afterwards.

“These were the most remarkable atmospheres we have ever experienced,” Graham said. “Julie [Hesmondhalgh, one of the actors] He said this was one of the highlights of his performance career. You always hear that theater doesn’t fit the TikTok generation, but it’s safe to say these young people totally relate to the themes of what it’s like to grow, struggle, survive, and thrive as a teenager.

Graham is currently working on an adaptation of the play aimed at younger audiences that will be taken into schools across the UK. The new version, produced at Nottingham Playhouse in 2027, is funded by profits and royalties from the West End run.

“We want to tell the story directly to young people in their own environments,” Graham said. “This is about making the game more compact for the younger generation who will see it during their breaks.”

Punch tells the true story of Nottingham teenager Jacob Dunne, who killed a stranger with one punch during a night out. Based on Dunne’s memoir, Right From Wrong, the film follows the aftermath of that moment, including his time in prison and the extraordinary restorative justice process he went through with the victim’s parents.

The play has had a remarkable run: it opened at the Nottingham Playhouse in May 2024, transferred to the Young Vic and opened simultaneously on Broadway and the West End. The 10-week run at London’s Apollo theater attracted 54,000 people, with school groups making up more than 10% (5,700) of the audience.

Graham said the story resonated strongly with young viewers. “There’s something about seeing a young man born into difficult circumstances and surrounded by unhealthy forces (gangs in Jacob’s case) or, today, social media and peer pressure. To see him turn his life around was incredibly inspiring.”

He said Dunne’s experience also points to broader concerns about masculinity. “Being a young man in the 21st century has unique challenges that I did not experience growing up.”

What struck Graham most was the hopeful tenor of the story. “Jacob was able to turn his life around. He got an education, he got his doctorate, he became a father. What saved his life was the incredible generosity of the parents of the man he killed in reaching out to him. And Jacob responded to them, helping them escape their pain. This is one of the most moving stories I’ve ever had the privilege of telling.”

Graham used some of his winnings to bring pupils from his former comprehensive school in Ashfield to the West End race. “I want the new version to reach schools that have less access to the arts,” he said. “Drama helps build empathy, and it’s truly worrying that it’s being eliminated so systematically, especially at a cultural time when we need so much more of it.”

Producer Kate Pakenham said profits and royalties from the West End run had gone into the catalyst fund for the school version and they would seek additional partnership funding.

“Teachers told us that Punch could be valuable across the curriculum, and with the practical and financial difficulties many schools face, we wanted to take the game to them,” he said.

The success of the game came after a warning sharp decline in new business production since the pandemic. Last month the British Theater Consortium reported a 30% drop compared to 2019, but demand rose in parallel; The proportion of theater audiences with new works increased from 29.9% in 2019 to 41.9% in 2023.

“There will always be an appetite for new business, but it’s not easy,” Graham said. “There is a storytelling crisis in our country. We are struggling to imagine the next chapter of our national life.

“I’m not surprised that what we continually do on our screens or on our stages is resort to nostalgic old stories rather than having the capacity to imagine stories for the next generation.”