Punch
by James Graham
directed by Adam Penford
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ON BROADWAY AT THE
SAMUEL J. FRIEDMAN THEATRE
2025-26 Season
As Jacob tears through Nottingham in a whirlwind of drugs, girls, and bar fights, he makes a fatal mistake that lands him in prison. But as he struggles to accept the consequences of his actions and build a new life, he finds an unusual source of salvation: the parents of the boy he killed.Based on a remarkable true story, PUNCH is two-time Olivier winner James Graham (INK)’s “most moving work yet.” (The Times of London).
In association with Nottingham Playhouse
Creative
James Graham
Playwright
JAMES GRAHAM (Playwright) is a playwright and screenwriter. His Olivier Award-winning play Dear England, about Gareth Southgate’s transformation of the national football team, had a sold out run at the National in 2023, transferred to the West End and was broadcast on NT Live. An updated version returns to the National Theatre before a national UK tour this spring, and it is being adapted for TV with the BBC. Other work includes Tammy Faye, having originally opened at the Almeida Theatre in 2022, it opened on Broadway in 2024, and Boys from the Blackstuff, adapted from Alan Bleasdale’s seminal TV drama, originally performed at Liverpool Royal Court in 2023 and opened at The National Theatre last summer. James’s breakout play This House – also at the National Theatre – went on to have an Olivier-nominated sell-out revival in the West End in 2017 and it was chosen by popular vote as the best play of the 2010’s for the major theatre publisher Methuen. James’s TV drama “Sherwood” – set in the Red Wall community of Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, where he is from – won the Royal Television Society Award for Best Drama and won two BAFTAS. Its critically acclaimed second season aired in 2024. Other TV shows include “Quiz” (ITV and AMC) in 2020, directed by Stephen Frears, which was one of the most watched UK television dramas of the year, and “Brexit: An Uncivil War,” broadcast on Channel 4 and HBO, which was nominated for an Emmy and a BAFTA.
Adam Penford
Director
Adam Penford (Director) is Artistic Director at Nottingham Playhouse in the UK. He trained at Paul McCartney’s Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA).
Nottingham Playhouse credits: Dear Evan Hansen (UK Tour); Punch (Young Vic); The Clothes They Stood Up In; A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story (Alexandra Palace / Worldwide Cinema Release / Birmingham Rep); The Madness of George III (NT Live); Piaf; Bubble; Holes (UK Tour); An Enemy of the People; Coram Boy; Jack & the Beanstalk; Cinderella; Dick Whittington; Wonderland.
National Theatre credits: A Small Family Business (Olivier); Dorfman Opening Gala (Dorfman); Island (Cottesloe); One Man Two Guvnors (Adelphi / Music Box / UK & International Tour; Revival Director); NT 50 Years on Stage (Olivier / BBC 2; Associate Director).
Theatre credits: The Sound of Music (Chichester Festival); Committee (Donmar Warehouse); The Boys in The Band (Vaudeville / Park); Platinum (Hampstead); Unfaithful (Found 111); Watership Down (The Watermill); Deathtrap (Salisbury Playhouse / UK Tour); Ghost the Musical (Frankfurt English); Stepping Out (Salisbury Playhouse).
James Graham
Playwright
Adam Penford
Director