Punch and Judy

[bendk]

I have seen quite a few puppets from the play PUNCH AND JUDY posted in the gallery section. This is one of my favorite plays, right up there with WAITING FOR GODOT. This play has everything you could want in a children's play: infanticide, spousal abuse culminating in murder by blunt force trauma (big stick), an execution, the undead (a ghost and skeleton) and even a battle to the death with the Devil. And I didn't even mention the half of it. Basically, Punch kills his wife and child and then refuses any attempts at justice imposed by this world or the next. He merrily murders anyone that gets in his way; all of them perpetrated with the utmost glee and humor. The only thing this play denies its audience is 'the moment of consummate disaster.' But perhaps this scene has been written by some creative puppet master that I am unaware of. One of great things about this play is that it is not cast in stone. Certain scenes are standard, but there is much room left for interpretation. This play is hundreds of years old and has been performed an untold number of ways.

In Henry Mayhew's famous sociological study, LONDON LABOR AND THE LONDON POOR, conducted on the streets of London in the mid 19th century, a punchman recounts an interesting phenomenon: Often preachers would set up opposite of punch shows and gather a completely different kind of audience - the God-fearing and pious. This play is an attack on the solemnity with which some approach the world. Ironically, despite its violence and death, it is not in the least bit morbid. One of my favorite scenes is:

Punch has just been attacked and a doctor is called. When he arrives on the scene, Punch is lying on the ground, apparently lifeless.

Doctor: Are you dead Mr. Punch?
Punch: Yes

Does dialogue get any better than that?
I think not.


Given TL's interest in puppets, I'm sure he is familiar with this famous play; although, I can't recall if he ever mentioned it in any of his stories.

Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean produced an excellent graphic novel based on and around the play. It is called: THE TRAGICAL COMEDY OR COMICAL TRAGEDY OF MR. PUNCH.

If you haven't read the play, give it a shot. It is a rewarding experience getting to know Mr. Punch.

'With a bump on his nose and a hump on his back and a big stick to give you a whack!'


P.S.
Dr. Bantham,
Give that crocodile puppet some sausages. He looks hungry.

[ElHI]

Are you referring to a particular Punch and Judy play? It seems to exist in so many different versions.

Stenbock, in his essay "The Myth of Punch", said that there are only 4 great subjects: Faust, Tannhauser, Don Juan and Punch. The two latter being about the triumph of absolute Evil, but in rather different ways. In his eyes Punch is all the more abominable because its intent is purely to entertain, and even worse: to entertain children!

[yellowish haze]

I just wanted to add that this famous Czech puppet-animator, Jan Svankmajer, made a short version of "Punch and Judy" in 1966...

http://www.illumin.co.uk/svank/films/punch/punch.html

[unknown]

Ooo...I'll have to check out the Jan Svankmajer version...do you know if it's on one of his collection dvds?

[bendk]

ElHI,
I am not referring to any particular 'Punch Opera.' I have read so many of them, that I just pick and choose my favorite scenes and they have all merged over time to form my ideal version. I have read sanitized interpretations in children's play books. Punch will throw the baby out the window and Toby the Dog will catch it and run away. And then Punch will chase Judy off the stage. I prefer the older, violent versions.

I would love to read that essay by Stenbock. It is funny you should mention Stenbock, as I was just about to start a post to inquire if anyone knows his work. I don't know anything about him. I know he is one of David Tibet's favorite writers and that Durtro published some of his books - all expensive. Stenbock's attitude towards Punch, being that it was abominable because it was violent and it was aimed at children, reminds me of the book STRUWWELPETER by Heinrich Hoffman. I always got a kick out of this book, but I don't think it should be used in child rearing. TL mentions this book in his short story ALICE'S LAST ADVENTURE. Come to think of it, many of the fairy tales I read as a kid were violent too.

Slawek and unknown,
I have an older VHS tape called SVANKMAJER VOLUME 1, and it has PUNCH AND JUDY on it. I liked this short film. The only resemblance it has with the original play, though, is that it has the Punch and Joey puppets in it, and it contains some funny violence as they hit each other over the head with wooden mallets. The film is only 10 minutes long. I never bought the dvds, so I don't know if this film is on them. I like some of the elements that Svankmajer uses in his films, but I can't say that his work has meant that much to me. I have seen ALICE, FAUST, LITTLE OTIK, and a collection of his short films. I did like LITTLE OTIK (I want the prop book they used in the film) and a few of the short films. There is a cool looking larger-than-life devil puppet costume in FAUST.

If you enjoy Svankmajer's work, you may be interested in the book DARK ALCHEMY The films of Jan Svankmajer. It is a collection of essays about him and it contains an interview with him as well. I have only read a few of the essays, but they were interesting; a lot of talk about surrealism and puppetry.

[Dr. Bantham]

I managed to find Jan Svankmejer's version of "Punch and Judy" and convert it for your viewing pleasure within VideoBox. Enjoy...

[unknown]

:shock:


*runs to the videobox*


*trips*

[bendk]

Thank you, Dr. Bantham. It's great to see Svankmajer's Punch in the video box.

While I have always liked this film, it wasn't until Slawek posted that link a while ago, that I have gained a greater appreciation for it. I have watched it numerous times since then, and I have grown to love it. I got down the book DARK ALCHEMY and read about it, and I scoured the net as well.

To add a mock funeral to the play is a wonderful innovation. It fits in perfectly with the gothic burlesque tone of the play. To watch Punch carry the coffin out of the house is both incongruous and hilarious. And the way Punch and Joey keep changes places in it is very funny.

The mechanical, mangy, monkey orchestra adds a nice, bizarre element to the film. For me, it brings to mind a decaying nostalgia.

The film medium works especially well with the guinea pig. Close-ups of the animal, and the interplay of the living and the animated dead, make it appear nauseatingly alive.

I read somewhere on the net, that the wooden mallets they use to hit each other over the head with are utensils used to tenderize meat - which is pretty darn funny.

The only thing I'm not sure about is the ending, when Punch lies still as the puppeteer's hand withdraws. I think this betrays the essence of the indomitable spirit of Mr. Punch. I would have preferred it if Punch would have ripped the puppeteer's hand off and went dancing about with it - similar to the final scene in Texas Chainsaw Massacre where Leatherface does his chainsaw dance in the middle of the road. Now that would be very cool. Blood flying everywhere, even into the audience....maybe that's a bit much.

A few things from the book DARK ALCHEMY:

The marionettes in this film are meticulously copied from 17th century originals. They are are used as romantic ruins. They symbolize the old-fashioned, broken, displaced, and useless detritus of civilization. Svankmajer restores these rejected objects into a system of meaning. He says: "the use of animation lets these objects speak for themselves."

"I create my golems to protect me from the pogroms of reality." -Svankmajer

"I believe that puppets best symbolize the character of man in a contemporary, manipulated world." - Svankmajer

Svankmajer was influenced by the Theatre of Masks and the Black Theatre.

For Goethe, the puppet theatre was a metaphor for an alienation which was both social and ontological.


Does anyone know if Svankmajer's short film THE LAST TRICK OF MR SCHWARTZWALD AND MR. EDGAR was ever released on video or dvd?

[unknown]

Just watched Svankmajer's Punch and Judy and found it to be pretty entertaining...I was caught off guard for the first minute, but once the story got going I liked it. I found it pretty humorous...along with some of the most adroit puppet manipulation I've seen.

[ElHI]

I've recently read Frederick Cowles' story of the same name, which can be found (if you're lucky enough) in THE NIGHT WIND HOWLS (Ash-Tree Press, rare) or FEAR WALKS THE NIGHT (Ghost Story Press, much rarer).

The plot is not really original (murder of one's wife and her lover, and subsequent haunting of the murderer, up to his death in strange circumstances), but the murderer runs an ambulant Punch and Judy show, and there are some comments on the myth, made by this murderer that are interesting enough. Mostly along the lines of Stenbock's comments: "Punch and Judy is the only story worth telling..."

Oh, and at first, the murderer only sees the ghost of his dog, that he was bound to kill together with the lover lest he'd give the alarm.

Pretty nice story all in all...