Punch at the Young Vic review: ‘a tragic true story turned into devastating theatre’

David Shields bursts onto the stage as Jacob, a drug dealer, gang member, amped-up kid desperate for a fight. Shields plays it with such intensity that you can almost see the blood vessels bulging in his eyeballs. And it’s not long before the fatal punch happens. From there the play starts to become more and more complex, as we learn about Jacob’s upbringing on The Meadows estate, the pipeline of drugs and gangs he’s sucked into, as well as the fallout of the punch: a prison sentence, and a remarkable restorative justice scheme that put him in contact with the parents of the young paramedic he killed.