More venues and dates announced for major UK & Ireland tour of James Graham's multi award-winning, PUNCH

MORE VENUES AND DATES ANNOUNCED FOR MAJOR UK & IRELAND TOUR OF JAMES GRAHAM’S MULTI AWARD-WINNING PUNCH BEGINNING AT NOTTINGHAM PLAYHOUSE FROM 25 JANUARY 2027 Nottingham Playhouse in association with KPPL Productions, Mark Gordon Pictures, Eilene Davidson Productions today announce further venues and dates for the UK & Ireland tour of Punch. Written by award-winning playwright James Graham, based upon Jacob Dunne’s book ‘Right from Wrong’ and directed by Artistic Director of Nottingham Playhouse, Adam Penford, Punch will tour from 25 January to 24 April 2027.

The new tour venues and dates for 2027 are: BEAM Hertford (23 – 27 March); Glasgow CITZ (30 March – 3 April); The Gaiety Theatre, Dublin (6 – 10 April); The Arts Theatre Cambridge (13 – 17 April) and The Belgrade Theatre Coventry (20 – 24 April).

The tour begins at Nottingham Playhouse (25 January - 6 February) and then tours to previously announced venues: Bath Theatre Royal (9 - 13 February); Birmingham Rep (16 - 20 February); Chichester Festival Theatre (23 - 27 February); Malvern Theatres (2 - 6 March); Blackpool Grand Theatre (9 - 13 March) and Leicester Curve (16 - 20 March).

Casting for the tour is to be announced.

Artistic Director at Nottingham Playhouse, and Director of Punch, Adam Penford, said: “We’re delighted that more audiences across the UK will have the opportunity to see Punch in 2027 and for it to premiere in Ireland. It’s a story of hope, forgiveness and human connection, and we’ve seen from its incredible reception in the West End and on Broadway that it has the same powerful impact, wherever it goes. The UK and Ireland tour also means more opportunities for community engagement work around Punch, ensuring that the play can continue to support the campaigning work of the real-life people whose story we’re telling, at a local level.”

Jacob, a teenager from Nottingham, spends his Saturday nights seeking thrills with his friends. One fateful evening, an impulsive punch leads to fatal consequences. After serving prison time, Jacob finds himself lost and directionless. Searching for answers, Joan and David – the parents of his victim James Hodgkinson – ask to meet, sparking a profound transformation in Jacob’s life.

A powerful story of hope, humanity, and the possibility of change.

The creative team for Punch includes Adam Penford (Director), Anna Fleischle (Production Designer), Robbie Butler (Lighting Designer), Alexandra Faye Braithwaite (Sound Designer and Composer), Leanne Pinder (Movement Director) and Christopher Worrall CDG (Casting Director).

Punch is a multi-award-winning production including winner of ‘Best New Play’ at the 2026 Olivier Awards, Critics’ Circle Awards and The Standard Awards. The West End production produced by KPPL Productions, Mark Gordon Pictures, Eilene Davidson Productions in association with the Young Vic and Nica Burns most recently was awarded the Theatre Prize at Sky Arts Awards 2026.

The production is dedicated to James Hodgkinson and all victims of one-punch.

ENDS For further information please contact Holly Nicholls at holly@hollypr.com 07772610692 BIOGS James Graham | Writer James Graham is a playwright and screenwriter.

His Olivier award winning play Dear England, about British soccer coach Gareth Southgate’s transformation of the national team, had a sold out run at the National Theatre in 2023, transferred to the West End and received a nationwide tour. Over quarter of a million people saw the play. His four-part television adaptation for the BBC launched to critical acclaim in May 2026 in the run up to the World Cup.

His play Ink opened at the Almeida in 2017 before transferring to the West End the same year and a run on Broadway in 2019 which was Tony-nominated for Best New Play and he has adapted it for screen. The film - directed by Danny Boyle and starring Guy Pearce, Claire Foy and Jack O'Connell - opened Venice Film Festival 2026.

His play Punch won the Best New Play Olivier award in 2026, after opening at the Nottingham Playhouse in 2024 to rave reviews, transferring to the Young Vic in March 2025, before a sell out run in the West End and later Broadway. Based on the true story of Joan Scourfield and David Hodgkinson and the relationship they built with Jacob Dunne, the killer of their son James Hodgkinson, the show triggered a national conversation around restorative justice. A television adaptation is planned.

• Other work includes the musical Tammy Faye written with Elton John and Jake Shears, which originally opened at the Almeida Theatre in 2022, before transferring to Broadway in 2024.
• James's breakout play This House at the National Theatre in 2012 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.

The third series of James’s TV drama Sherwood is in post-production. The drama, set in the Red Wall community of Ashfield where he is from –won both the Royal Television Society Award for Best Drama and two BAFTA awards. It’s critically acclaimed second season aired in 2024.

Other TV includes: Quiz (ITV and AMC, 2020), directed by Stephen Frears and 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 and staring Benedict Cumberbatch.

Adam Penford | Director Adam Penford is the Artistic Director at Nottingham Playhouse. The theatre has twice won Theatre of the Year at The Stage Awards during his tenure. He trained at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA).

West End credits: Punch (Apollo); The Boys in the Band (Vaudeville); Revival Director on One Man, Two Guvnors (Adelphi and Haymarket).

Broadway credits: Punch (Samuel J. Friedman); Associate Director on One Man, Two Guvnors (Music Box).

Nottingham Playhouse credits: Punch – winner of Best Play at the Olivier Awards – (& Young Vic); Dear Evan Hansen (& UK and Asia Tour); A Christmas Carol (& Alexandra Palace/Worldwide Cinema Release/Birmingham Rep); The Clothes They Stood Up In; The Madness of George III (& NT Live); Piaf; Bubble; Holes (& UK Tour); An Enemy of the People; Coram Boy; Wonderland; Sleeping Beauty; Jack and the Beanstalk; Cinderella and Dick Whittington.

National Theatre credits include: A Small Family Business (Olivier); Dorfman Opening Gala (Dorfman); Island (Cottesloe); Assistant Director on One Man, Two Guvnors (Lyttelton) and Associate Director on NT 50 Years on Stage (Olivier and BBC Two).

Other directing credits include: Atonement and The Sound of Music (Chichester Festival); Committee (Donmar Warehouse); The Boys in the Band (Park Theatre); Platinum (Hampstead); Unfaithful (Found 111); Watership Down (The Watermill); Deathtrap (Salisbury Playhouse/UK Tour); Ghost the Musical (English Theatre Frankfurt); Stepping Out (Salisbury Playhouse) and The Machine Gunners and Run! (Polka Theatre).

Assistant/Associate Director credits include: The Winter’s Tale (Propeller at The Watermill Theatre); The Vagina Monologues (National Tour); 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover (Bush Theatre); Imagine This (Theatre Royal, Plymouth); Dying For It (Almeida) and Charley’s Aunt (Oxford Playhouse).