David Shields in Punch [Marc Brenner]

JAMES Graham’s affecting adaptation of Jacob Dunne’s memoir, Right from Wrong, dramatises one man’s journey from gratuitous violence to redemption.

Jacob (David Shields) lives with his single mum (Emma Pallant) on The Meadows, a deprived Nottingham housing estate.

Diagnosed with ADHD, he leaves school with no qualifications and little hope, and hangs out with other troubled kids from the estate.

In 2011, 19-year-old Jacob, now a petty drug dealer, decks 28-year-old trainee paramedic James Hodgkinson.

The single punch proves fatal and Jacob is charged with manslaughter.

He is sentenced to 30 months, serving just 14, in a young offender’s institute.

James’s parents, Joan (Julie Hesmondhalgh) and David (Tony Hirst) are horrified by Jacob’s short sentence and early release. Then their victim support team suggests they try restorative justice in an attempt to understand Jacob’s motivations.

After a poignant meeting with Jacob, accompanied by a mediator (Shalisha James-Davis), they encourage him to take his GCSEs – he gets A* in English, maths and psychology and applies to university. Their forgiveness helps Jacob to believe in himself.

Commissioned by Nottingham Playhouse, where it premiered last May, Adam Penford’s pacy production is brilliantly acted with Alec Boaden completing the 6-strong cast.

Graham really gets under the skin of his protagonists. Anna Fleischle’s set vividly conveys the estate, a concrete underpass suggesting the void Jacob narrowly escapes.

Recommended.

Until April 12
youngvic.org/