James Graham, the two-time Olivier winner behind INK and Dear England, trades politics for prison bars in what critics are calling his most emotional work yet. Based on a true story, Punch follows Jacob, a Nottingham lad whose wild nights of drugs, girls, and bar fights come crashing down after one tragic mistake - and the unlikely redemption he finds through the parents of the boy he killed. 

It's raw, riveting, and unexpectedly hopeful. Here's what the critics are saying.

Punch Critic Reviews

"James Graham's play Punch, as directed by Adam Penford, is a very, very British work: it's sturdily acted, choreo-directed within an inch of its life and shot through with a sense of community only a country with a hearty pub culture and universal healthcare could achieve. It is also, despite the production's evident desire to land with the force of its title, a surprisingly tender and unpretentious story at odds with its battering ram approach." - Theatrely

"It leads to a luminous climax, arguably the most beautifully written single scene of the year. Jacob, Joan, David, and moderator Nicola (Camila Can-Flavi) sit in a simple half-circle, on hard plastic chairs, and speak plainly about their feelings. The moment is so complicated, fraught, and courageous, performed with simplicity and precision, and written with a frankly unheard-of level of grace." - Theatermania

"Quite a story, though not necessarily the kind that makes for the most astonishing theater. That's not to denigrate Punch, which is solidly built and well-meaning without sanctimony. Graham, Penford, and company have done just about all they can to build an engaging stage event, and if the play can't avoid feeling a bit like an embodied pamphlet for restorative justice, then at least we're all gathering to hear about something that this world inarguably needs." - Vulture

"Bold and deeply human, Punch is initially a bit slow on the wind up, but its stellar cast help weave together an almost unbelievable story of compassion and empathy in its second act that left many theatergoers sniffling in their seats." - Entertainment Weekly

"The progressively morphing reaction of the excellent Robards' bereaved, wound-tight dad, sometimes a million miles away from a kid he wishes had never been born and sometimes not far away at all, is deeply moving. I could have watched those painful scenes all night." - New York Daily News

"Flawed and also powerful, Punch tells an astonishing story, and is a chastening corrective in this era of terrible human behavior. It doesn't just ask how we should behave, but how we could behave. The real tragedy is that its display of decencyits proposal that, as part of the human contract, we forgive, understand, heal, and repairis so rare." - The Daily Beast

"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." - New York Theatre Guide