New James Graham drama to tell true story of Nottingham ‘one-punch kill’ man who turned his life around

A new play by award-winning writer James Graham portraying the events surrounding a fatal fight in Nottingham city centre and the perpetrator’s subsequent reformation is to show at the Playhouse theatre next spring.

The play, Punch, based on a book written by the real-life figure at the centre of the incident, has been confirmed on the spring-summer 2024 listings at Nottingham Playhouse.

Graham, writer of Dear England, which ran at the National Theatre, and hit BBC series Sherwood, has adapted the book written by Jacob Dunne.

In the book, Right From Wrong, Dunne tells the story of his tough childhood growing up in the Meadows and an early destructive pattern of drug and alcohol abuse.

Its ultimate moral centres around the night he fatally punched a man outside a pub in the Old Market Square, for which he was later sentenced to prison for manslaughter.

Upon leaving prison 14 months later, with his life in tatters, Dunne began to deal with the consequences of his actions, a process which eventually led him to meet the parents of the man who had died that night.

After various letters and meetings with his victim’s parents, through a system of rehabilitation known as ‘restorative justice’, Dunne turned away from the life of drugs and violence he once knew, and towards a new path.

Now he spends much of his time educating children about the dangers of getting into the same destructive cycles, and the virtues of restorative justice. He also runs various social media channels, and last year his first book, on which the upcoming play is based, was published.

Commenting on the production, Dunne said: “It is incredible to be working with local playwright, James Graham, for a production at Nottingham Playhouse, where I enjoyed many memorable nights at the pantomime as a boy.

“‘Punch’, unlike the panto, explores our often oversimplified understanding of a villain through a medium that redeemed me - dialogue.

“My desire? To see you rolling into Nottingham Playhouse … like the mist from the Trent.”

With Graham leading production, Punch will be directed by Adam Penford and run between May 4 and 24 next year.