Without introducing any ideas of my own at this point, I’m interested in knowing how people feel about Punch and Judy puppet shows.
Have you seen one? Many? What do you think?
If you could tell me which side of the Atlantic you’re from, that, too, would be appreciated.
I’ve seen a couple (one here, one in the UK). They just seemed pointless and tedious to me.
Punch and Judy are secret tools of Satan.
They’re obviously politically incorrect and must be banned.
I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen one. Are they more a British thing?
ETA: I’m in the U.S.
Wikipedia link for reference.
They were fresh and daring back in 1700. Not really since.
My father was a Punch & Judy puppeteer in Kansas City, Missouri. It was the third part of his show - magic, then me as a ventriloquist, then Punch. I have no idea if it is politically correct, but it was funny, and the kids enjoyed yelling at Punch, and cheering as he was dragged away by an alligator. Dad had Punch, Judy (obviously), their baby, the Devil, the Policeman, the Hangman - these are from a 35 year old memory, as I don’t want to look at the Wikipedia article and wind up conflating my memory with the information in the WP article.
By the way, my Dad did not use a reed to do Punch’s voice. It cost him, as he developed nodes on his vocal chords. He lost a Christmas season having an operation. As the dates were all “play or pay”, he recorded the whole show and taught my Mom how do do both the puppetry and the magic act (this was before I joined the act, and my bother was probably doing his unicycle routine at the time).
I saw my first Punch & Judy show just a couple weeks ago.
It was…definitely from an earlier time.
eta: US
I went and read the Wikipedia article, and I didn’t find anything about Punch’s voice. Why would one use a reed to perform it? I mean, my guess would be it somehow raises the pitch or something, and that would be very interesting.
It’s in the history section of the wiki:
It makes the voice unpleasantly distorted rather like when you blow over a tissue and comb, or the chorus in Cher’s ‘Life After Love’.
I’m English and I dislike Punch & Judy shows. I think I missed them in my childhood so saw them when I was too old really. But I also never liked pantomimes either. I think it was probably the audience of shouting kids which put me off as much as anything.
Thanks for sharing, gaffa. Especially about the non-swazzled Punch voice. Many purists would say it’s not Punch at all without the swazzle.
Note to others: if you had to read the Wikipedia entry, there’s no need to answer. Same as if you had to read Wiki to answer “What are your thoughts on the sitcom All in the Family?”
British. Seen them. Yawn. Anachronistic.
I think of them as a peculiarly British (or at least, European) phenomenon. I’ve never seen one (and don’t have any particular desire to), and whenever I’ve encountered mention of them, it’s been in British contexts, making me suspect that they’re something that most Brits are familiar with but few Americans are.
I saw one a few years ago, taken from an original script. Punch seems like a very postmodern hero.
I’m in the US.
I think they are darling and have enjoyed the few I’ve seen. But I like any sort of puppeteering. I’m in the US.
American here.
I only know of them through a baseball cliche: A Punch and Judy hitter is a weak singles hitter. Until this thread, I never really knew what that reference was, and I still don’t really understand it.
They tie in with my other anachronistic interests. (Tonight I have a rehearsal for a Mummers Play, despite my firm contention that rehearsing is contrary to the spirit of Mumming. But since none of us have been seeing Mummers Plays every year since we were wee bairns I suppose a series of rehearsals are needed to get the characters and lines approximately in place.)
I haven’t seen one in a while since they are not performed very often in the US (I suppose).