The Big Grin

Punch's 350th Anniversary

This year of 2012 commemorates the 350^th anniversary since Punch was first seen in Covent Garden and recorded by Samuel Pepys in his diary.

On the weekend of 12th-13th of May, I attended most of the events and celebrations that took place in Covent Garden for this motive, with the sponsorship of the Heritage Lottery Fund. On Saturday the 12th, I enjoyed some of the puppet shows performed at the Piazza by both international and national professors. and witnessed the big birthday party in which nearly 100 professors celebrated Punch's Birthday with a cake. The cake opened and inside were 350 sausages, one for each year. All Punches gave a great belly laugh and danced with their Judies as the crowd sang 'Happy Birthday'. A marching band struck their first notes and a short parade took place around Covent Garden.

Saturday, 12th May 2012. Punch's 350th Birthday

On Sunday the 13^th the festivities took place away from the cobbles of the square, in the gardens of St. Paul's Church, celebrating the 37th Annual Covent Garden May Fayre and Puppet Festival. This church has a long established connection with the theatre and it is best known as "The Actors' Church'. It was also under the portico of this church that the first recorded performance of Mr. Punch took place. The atmosphere was more festive and also more intimate this time, with several stalls with food and drink and informative pitches from several puppetry associations. There was a big attendance and different shows were performed simultaneously.

Sunday 13th May 2012. May Fayre

I must acknowledge that, until then, I had never been familiar with the traditional puppet figure and, having documented myself a priori in order to elaborate this study, I had big expectations.

Over the weekend, I had mixed experiences, some of them a little bit disappointing given the expectations I had about finding a truly anarchic energy in the iconic puppet show. Most shows follow the same traditional plot in which Punch has to deal with different antagonist characters who get in his way and who represent instruments of repression, such as his wife, the policeman or the the devil; he disposes of them in more or less violent terms. Although I couldn't see all of the shows, I found that in general the performances were lacking freshness and were somewhat tamed and watered down and tended to replicate each other. Some of them addressed the audience with moralistic notes and they seemed to be rooted in nostalgia and outdated. The shows were dependant on pantomimic formulas, which have been well tried and tested and proven to incite audience participation, not through spontaneity but through audience disciplining. They represented an example of how the hegemonic forces can succeed in domesticating a subversive character in order to incorporate it to its own system of values.

Nonetheless, it must be taken into consideration that, in the milieu of a festival event, where so many puppeteers who normally work on their own have gathered together sharing the same space, the show content can never enjoy the freedom of the 'bottled' performance, which is directly dependant on the audience without the intervention of intermediaries. Moreover, the celebrations were framed within an authorised and controlled environment, even more within the grounds of a religious institution, where political correctness has to be kept in some extent. Also, another aspect to take into account is the coincidence with the celebrations of the monarchic institution, a very difficult area still nowadays to avoid or to openly confront, as what would have been expected from Punch. Alan Reeve and Martin Reeve (2011) analyse how context can alter the production and the reading of performance.

The commissioned or booked performance is increasingly employed to conform to constructed notions of, for example, Englishness or the bucolic that have little to do with history, but that seek to satisfy a sentimental need encouraged by commercial, heritage and municipal interests. (p. 19)

Of course there were exceptions and I would like to reiterate that it wasn't possible for me to comprehend the totality of the event. Some of the British Professors put on very entertaining shows in which the audience, specially the children, really enjoyed themselves. The first performances I saw on Saturday were the Italian and French Pulcinella shows. The puppets were less grotesque than the English Punch, but the shows were more energically paced, with an acute sense of comic timing. I also noticed that, being less reliant on spoken dialogue and more on physical actions, the overall performance had more impact and seemed more natural.  

Italian Pulcinella

French Polichinelle

 However, the performance I really enjoyed came from a Punchman who was not part of the official programme, as I confirmed when asking the festival organiser Professor Glyn Edwards, but who seemed to have taken the opportunity of the festival to make some 'bottle' money. His whole persona was distinguishable from the whole festival setting in that his costume made of him already a Punch character and his booth was completely portable, sitting on his back like a rucksack as part of his costume. In this fashion, he could move around and interact with the audience with absolute freedom. He addressed the audience in equal terms, sometimes making fun with them but never patronising. A crowd gathered around producing a bigger sense of community, and the performer established a dialogue with the audience which he produced out of sheer improvisation. Audience interaction was spontaneous and not forced upon. Apart from performing the traditional show in his very own personal way, he also brought up issues of contemporary concern by the use of satire.

  

 In his showmanship I recognised the incarnation of the anarchic spirit of Punch. He is the proof that, despite all the efforts to quieten the rebellious shriek of Punch's voice, its Dionysian spirit always finds a way to break through.  Even though Punch is a figure which has been appropriated by the middle and upper classes, the core of its energy has remained untouched.

 

 The story of Punch is a story of survival, accommodating itself to different surroundings and times. Its wild energy is ever-changing and always renewed. It doesn't belong to a particular social class but to the deep roots of human nature, which rebels against the artificial ties of human laws.