By Charlotte Williams
Based on the true story of Scott Akester’s tragic death, One Punch is a hard-hitting and deeply moving production. With a talented three-person cast and a striking mix of physical theatre and direct audience address, this play delivers a vital message about the devastating consequences of a single punch. Charlotte Williams reviews:
THE play ‘One Punch’ performed at Home theatre in Manchester was extremely hard-hitting.
This was due to the show being based on the true story of Scott Akester and his unfortunate death. Scott sadly passed away when a friend of his punched him on a night out, he fell onto the ground and was rushed into hospital.
The show sent out a very prominent message and raised awareness of the risks of how one singular punch can result in death.
The show was formed by three cast members who all multi-rolled. These actors were: Ellis Basford, Camille Hainsworth-Staples and George Reid and all of them had immense talent.
The way that they individually switched from playing one character and breaking out into another was very clear. For example, at the start of the show they were all paramedics, then they would each transform into either Scott’s mother and his father and many more roles.
The cast put on an excellent performance and delivered the show with great emotion.
The style of the theatrical performance was very powerful as the actors broke the fourth wall and spoke to the audience and educated them all about the effects of what one punch can do.
Alongside this style, physical theatre was a key moment in this performance. For example, when highlighting the scene where Scott’s friend punches him, Ellis Basford stylised this action by roaming his body around the stage and slowing down his body language. This was very important to view as it reinforced how emotional it was to learn about the tragedy of Scott’s death.
All in all, this production was very educational, teaching the viewers about the subject.
Personally, the stylistic approach with the spoken rhyming narration and bold choreography was very clever as it made the show informative.
Home is based at Tony Wilson Place, First Street, Manchester. Visit https://homemcr.org/ for more events and productions