Olivier Award-winning James Graham to adapt PUNCH for schools tour
Photo credit: Marc Brenner
Following the final performance of Punch at the Apollo Theatre on 29 November, the show’s producers have announced that profits from the West End run will be used to create a new version of Punch to be toured into schools.
Olivier Award-winning James Graham will adapt the play and work with director Adam Penford to create a version especially designed for young people. Punch is based on the book Right From Wrong by Jacob Dunne, and was originally commissioned and produced by Nottingham Playhouse.
Core funding for the schools’ version of Punch will be made possible through the commitment from the West End producers and James Graham not to take royalties and profits and rather channel the money into sharing the play with young people. This commitment has created a catalyst fund which will be built upon through partnership funding, with the ambition of ultimately sharing the schools’ version across the UK. The schools’ version will be produced out of Nottingham Playhouse in 2027. To find out more or register interest in engaging with the Punch schools’ tour, please contact punchschools@nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk.
Producer Kate Pakenham said, “There’s a wonderful virtuous circle about Punch’s journey from Nottingham Playhouse, to London and New York, and now into schools. We heard directly from thousands of young people in the West End how powerfully the story speaks to them, and are thrilled that West End success means that we can now take it directly to them in schools. Teachers have encouraged us that there is huge potential for Punch on the national curriculum, and we are excited to build partnerships to explore this over the coming years. As we head into this next journey for this important new play, we recognise with gratitude the real people whose story this is and the exceptional artists who made the original production. We hope that the 54,000 people who saw Punch in the West End can feel a sense of pride at their part in making this next step for Punch possible.”
Playwright James Graham said: “Punch began as a desire to write a story for my often-neglected community in Nottinghamshire. 18 months on, it’s a bewildering delight to me that it has become the first play to open simultaneously in the West End and on Broadway in over a century. I know this is because of the incredible real people involved – Jacob, David and Joan – and the powerful impact their true story is having on audiences. Given all that, it felt right to approach a West End run in a new way, with a social mission behind it. I’m thrilled that, by declining royalties, thousands of young people who would never have been able to see a West End play got to experience one, and that Punch now has a life beyond courtesy of the generosity and ambition of our remarkable producers.”
Alongside the West End production’s commitment to young people’s access to Punch on Shaftesbury Avenue, the strictly limited run aimed to inform wider audiences around Restorative Justice, and the wider social justice issues platformed in the play. The production partnered with 11 charities including The Forgiveness Project and Go Live Theatre, hosting 9 free post-show conversations every Tuesday led by expert speakers from across the social justice, education and arts sectors. This unique weekly series of post-show conversations were attended by 3500 people (average attendance of 50% of evening’s audience) and are available to listen to for free on Youtube.