Dionysian Punch

The Dionysian nature of Mr. Punch

Theatre historian Georges Speaight (1970) claims that the origins of Mr. Punch could be traced far back in the history of Western civilization, to the pagan agricultural celebrations in the greco-roman world. The religious rituals in honour to Dionysus, Greek God of Wine and Ecstasy, gave way to dramatisations; it gave way to the Greek Tragedy and with it, to Comedy. 

In his first book The Birth of Tragedy: Out of the Spirit of Music, Friedrich Nietzsche talked about the duality of the Apollonian and the Dionysian in art. Both aesthetic forces are in opposition and, at the same time, they complement each other.  The Apollonian moderates the excesses of the Dionysian. Nietzsche describes Apollo as god of all plastic arts, god of light. Apollo represents order and harmony, 'from whose gestures and gaze all the joy and wisdom of “illusion,” together with its beauty, speak to us.'  Dionysus, on the other hand, represents the non-visual arts of music and dancing. He is the god of wine and ecstasy, of intoxication:

Under the magic of the Dionysian, not only does the bond between man and man lock itself in place once more, but also nature itself, no matter how alienated, hostile, or subjugated, rejoices again in her festival of reconciliation with her prodigal son, man.

(Nietzsche, 2009)

The Dionysian doesn't connect man to the ideals in the World of Dreams, like the Apollonian; it connects man to the reality of himself, to nature and to the physical world.

Roman comedy was also impregnated with the wild energy of the Dionysian and seems to have had the same sort of ritual origins as Greek theatre.

In the Roman Saturnalia, the social order and hierarchies were reversed and rules were broken.

Quoting Michael Byrom (1983. p. 8):

The long history of the puppet Punch had its misty origins in the pre-historic folk drama of Greece. Centuries before Christ, these crude farces emerged in Southern Italy having been brought in by Greek colonists. The 'Atellanae Fabulae' or 'Ludi Osci', as they are called, were played in the old Oscan dialect by citizens of Atella in Campania, and were transplanted to Rome in the 3^rd century BC. They were performed on planks and trestles before the invention of regular theatres, and were humorous, satirical, and often obscene.

The 'primo comico' was Maccus whose appearance closely resembles Pulcinella. He was masked, with a big hooked nose, humped back, and fat belly...

This Dionysian force is at the root of the anarchic spirit of popular theatre and it is embodied by the puppet Punch.