Plymouth Theatre Review

Sensory notice & content warnings 

Strobes, flashing lights, fire and flame effects, smoke, haze, fake Molotov cocktail, strong language, adult scenes, nudity, loud music and noise, references to violence, death, bereavement, alcohol/substance misuse and mental health. 

This play is dedicated to the memory of James Hodgkinson and all victims of one-punch 

Easy to Follow: 4 

Family Friendly: 2.5 

Must see: 5

‘PUNCH’ is a deeply emotional and tense drama based on the book Right From Wrong by Jacob Dunne, in which Dunne tells his life story and the traumatic effect of a punch he throws which takes the life of a young man. Written by James Graham this is a brilliant and thought provoking script brought to stage in fantastic style. This play explores themes of classism, guilt and the growing issue of violence between young people. 

Jack James Ryan (Jacob Dunne) delivers one of the best performances I have ever seen, his use of voice, pacing and body language produces a heartfelt and personal performance which strikes you to your core. Ryan showcases a range of skill from delivering scenes fueled on anger and rage to deeply vulnerable and saddening scenes all of which you believe and feel. It is an emotional roller coaster of a show and Ryan guides the audience through without fault. The rest of the cast all multirole and all do a flawless job, each and every actor in this show delivered a creative, skilled and awesome performance which blew me away. Those actors are Elan Butler, Matthew Flynn, Grace Hodgett Young, Laura Tebbutt and Finty Williams. 

Director Adam Penford has done a fantastic job at bringing this story to life and I am truly impressed with the show as a whole. The performers were accompanied with excellent lighting direction by Robbie Butler; I particularly liked the scene where a molotov cocktail is thrown towards the audience and they created a fiery glow which came from the back of the audience and reflected onto the stage, it looked like there was a fire behind me. They also had excellent sound direction by Alexandra Faye Braithwaite who through music and sound added so much to scenes. Whether it was an upbeat or a low scene, Braithwaite matched it and added layers which only captivated me more. My final point is the movement and physical theatre was exemplary, and added so much to the storytelling of the performance. Leanne Pinder (Movement Director) did a fantastic job.

‘PUNCH’ is a masterpiece in story telling and production and is exactly what theatre is about; telling real stories that have a real impact on real people. Jack James Ryan is a performer to watch and a firecracker of talent whose storytelling ability is truly captivating. ‘PUNCH‘ is a clever and welcomed reminder to me about the power of theatre and I would thoroughly recommend it thoroughly. There are so many people who put their mind and creativity into this performance I recommend looking at the ‘Punch’ website for more information.

Review By Joe Neville

*Gifted – This theatre review was written following a gifted ticket to the performance. However, all opinions and views expressed in this review are entirely that of the reviewer and the review has not been influenced in any way by the provision of the ticket. Our commitment remains to provide an honest and unbiased assessment of the experience.