"The Best Punch and Judy" by George Speaight, author of

"A History of English Puppet Theatre"

 

The show that has stuck in my mind best was given by Martin Bridle in Slovakia in 1996. Slovakia had only recently been declared an independent country fro Czeko-Slovakia, and this was a festival of international puppet theatres that was given, partly, to celebrate the independence of their country. A few years later the realities of running a country today became more evident and events of this kind less frequent, but this time even I, an historian of puppet theatre, was invited to attend and indeed was given the grandest bedroom in the country residence which hosted the festival. Perhaps that was why the show I saw made such an impression on my mind!

Anyhow, it was given during the school holidays and not only Martin's wife Su Eaton, but also their children Leo and Rosie ( 9 and 5 respectively ), all entered into the entertainment. It began with a dance between a human-sized Punch and Judy, to which Martin and the children lent musical accompaniment. This was a very eccentric dance, especially at the end in which Su revealed that both characters had been represented by her! After that the puppet show began.

 

A puppet Dog, Toby, greets the audience while smoking a cigarette. He introduced Joey, who appeared playing a concertina. Guardsmen then appeared, banging drums and clashing cymbals. A monkey then arrived and had some trouble erecting a sign, but eventually the stage was properly set for Punch's arrival and he proceeded to dance and sing.

 

Judy arrived and the baby was brought up. They had the usual arguments, leading to words and actions, which Punch terminated by propelling Judy over his knees, pulling her skirt up, and .giving her bare bottom a good spanking. This of course is a part of the early shows as seen and recorded by Rowladson in 1785. Martin appears to be the only contemporary showman who includes this in his performance today, but it seems to go down well with audiences, and is far better than killing her!

 

Then a sausage machine is introduced. A burglar with a striped shirt was turned by Punch into a row of striped sausages; a policeman comes looking for the burglar, so Punch then dispatches him too by putting him in the machine which then produces a string that is blue like the policeman's uniform.

Now the crocodile entered to be followed by the devil. I can't recall details of what they did, but it was the familiar routines which were of course, not familiar in Slovakia. At one point, when Punch had entered the scene, the devil thought he had won, and extended his long neck to announce his victory, but Punch of course showed him that he was mistaken and concluded the show by holding the devil up on his stick. Joey appeared to lead the singing of "I do like to be besided the seaside" in which Su, Leo and Rosie all join in.

 

I felt that although we were robbed of the hanging scenes-and after all nobody deserves hanging, with Judy spanked and the burglar and policeman simply paying a visit to the kitchen- this was the traditional version of Punch and Judy. It gave good scope to the familiar scenes and was enriched by a great many original and individual ideas and bits of business which I cannot remember in detail. It was certainly enriched by the appearance of Su and the children, which every Punch performer cannot be expected to introduce, but all in all it went down very well. The Slovakians were enchanted. And so was I!

 

George Speaight 2002