Nottingham Playhouse named Theatre of the Year as Punch wins an Olivier

It has been a remarkable run for Nottingham Playhouse. The theatre opposite Nottingham Cathedral was named Theatre of the Year 2025 at The Stage Awards, and a play that began life on its stage has gone on to triumph in London and on Broadway.

That play is Punch by James Graham, directed by the Playhouse's artistic director Adam Penford. Based on Jacob Dunne's memoir Right from Wrong, it is a powerful Nottingham story about a single punch, its devastating consequences and the restorative justice that followed. The world premiere ran at the Playhouse in May 2024.

From there, Punch travelled. It opened at the Young Vic in London in March 2025, then ran at the Apollo Theatre in the West End from September to November 2025, while a Broadway production opened at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. The West End production won the 2026 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play, and in 2026 the play returned to the Playhouse before touring to Leeds Playhouse and Theatre Royal Plymouth.

Awards are nothing new here. The Stage named Nottingham Playhouse Regional Theatre of the Year in 2019, and UK Theatre named it Most Welcoming Theatre in 2023. In September 2024 it also premiered the first UK production of Dear Evan Hansen outside the West End.

The company has deep roots. It was founded as a repertory theatre in 1948 in a former cinema on Goldsmith Street, and its current home opened in 1963. Designed by Peter Moro, who had worked on the interior of London's Royal Festival Hall, the building seats 770 and has been Grade II* listed since 1996. Outside, Anish Kapoor's Sky Mirror, installed in 2001, reflects the sky above Wellington Circus.

As a registered charity, the Playhouse describes itself as one of the country's leading producing theatres, mixing classics, family shows and new commissions that reflect Nottingham. Its participation programmes and its Amplify programme support the next generation of theatre-makers in the East Midlands.

For a night out that might just be a future award-winner, the Nottingham Playhouse website has the latest season and tickets.