Wot I Have Learned (Part 2) - The Theatre
Before You Make A Theatre Booth .
These are intended to be brief notes about Punch’s theatre. They are a guide as to how you should think, when approaching this matter; all with a view to you making your own Punch frame. More detailed notes are available but these should get the technically competent on their way.
Consider, sensibly, there are two main designs. That described, by Edwin Hooper in his book ‘Hallo Mr. Punch’ and that described by Sydney De Hempsey in his book ‘How To Do Punch & Judy’. Now, there are other books ‘out-there’, some even by the same authors and better versions at that, but these two publications may be the first that were readily available to the newbie.
The difference between the two designs is stark. Edwin’s booth is made from the minimum of pieces and collapses in on itself. This is referred to as: The Lazy-Tongs Design. It scores in many respects but may be viewed as bulky and best used when the performer is working ‘hands-over-head’.
Sydney’s design uses more individual components, yet the all-important base is very sturdy and rigid. As the booth ‘grows’ so the sides are ‘less-so’ but it still provides an excellent solution. This booth scores because it is probably best suited for adaptation into a ‘hands-in-front-of face’ worker’s requirement. But it takes considerably longer to construct and pack away. That said, once disassembled it will be less bulky than its Edwin’s counter-part.
‘ya pays ya money, ya makes ya choice…’
It is possible to mix and match. More, it is possible to make some or all of the components with ‘material’ other than wood.
Sydney booth is more accommodating of some ‘ham-fisted’ carpentry. That said, the performer has to produce his (or her, or ‘they’) best work out of this and they’ll have to live with it for a long time. So the first and best piece of advice on offer today is:
“Make every component of the best quality material and with the most accurate skill and care that you can (whether it will be ever seen or not) – near enough is never good enough.” I commend this maxim to you.
It will be easier to adopt and put this maxim into practice constructing a booth of Sydney’s design but you may be then disappointed that you didn’t go the whole hog and construct a booth using a (modified) ‘Edwin’s’ design.
We need to talk about ‘Edwin’s design. It wasn’t his to give. More, the play-board lazy tongs (in ‘Edwin’s design) are impossible to build unless you know the magic formula and in breaching copyright, Edwin negated to include one very important (4 inch) dimension. That said, his carpenter made several THEN improvements to the original design, which up until ‘we’ started importing thin brass components from China, worked very well.
The play-board support and construction must TODAY from ‘Edwin’s’ Design, be rethought. Also, what happens at the points where the side restraints clash with the intended proscenium arch ‘fixings’, needs careful handling. When it comes to the arch think: ‘Support and Restraint’. The fixings may provide both or you may opt to support the arch on the play-board, while restraining it with bungee ties.
There is something else to stress. The designs were intended to be constructed using imperial measurements. You MUST stick with that. And second, no cheating and skimping by making the booth rectangular in plan shape. Square is the only safe solution, unless you will never perform out-of-doors, and even then, I would still countenance against it. I’m not saying it isn’t important, but for the moment, forget any roping down, guy-rope advice. Get the booth design right and then and only then consider how you may accommodate guy ropes. Like Mr. Punch you need the theatre to fit you like a glove. You may also consider that for a ‘one-man’ show, Edwin Hooper’s booth width and length (they are the same) approaches perfection. Have in mind too, the maximum length that will comfortably fit inside the width, of the boot, of your Cadillac car. Also consider that, fundamentally, both designs are building a rectangular, hollow-box framework that are intended to come-apart, pack-away and be travelled to its next performance. The problems are identified, by the respective authors, then one possible solution offered. You can and should explore easier and more potentially readily available material solutions.
As I have intimated, the framework doesn’t need to be made from wood. Metal holds the heat nicely and on a hot-day will more readily radiate it back at you (while you are sweating it out inside the framework). Aluminum radiates less-so but is less accommodating of bending and twisting, or re-shaping after a fall, accident or any other piece of in-flight entertainment, courtesy of the wind. The choice is yours and you may discover some carbon-fibre material or plastic tubing which suits your requirements much better, if you do – well, good luck to you, and well-done.
Personally speaking, I like 25mm square beach wood for the uprights and 1/2″ x 3/4″ for the lath, triangular cross members but I concede, these can be made from aluminum.
Perhaps we should talk about the tools you’ll require. You are going to want to drill some holes, you cannot beat a table-top mounted drill, one that guarantees the drill bit goes in to the material, at right-angles. If you don’t know what a right-angle is, ask someone else to make your theatre for you. In Sydney’s design, bolts will be regularly pushed through the same hole. In this case you may want to buy some brass sleaves that sit inside the hole. These have a special name but I cannot remember what that is.
Finally, start with the base but only start after you have totally drawn-up a design. And the best way to do this is to draw one up, to scale. So measure yourself as you stand in a fictitious booth with your hands in the puppets as you would take them from their ‘hooks’. Then,while preparing to perform and finally with the puppets at their (comfortable) working height. Then have them at their working height and design your booth around these constraints. Don’t forget the speaker(s) and how you intend to mount them. Some booths can accommodate a speaker hidden inside its top or on an extended front cross piece. Be aware this may cause the booth to topple over. ‘Cut to fit’ only after the booth is complete. The accident of leaving a head-less nail an inch longer than designed may prove to be fortuitous.
The designs can be found in:
Hallo Mr. Punch – Edwin Hooper – Supreme Magic – 1960
The Booth File – Arcady Press – John Alexander – 1985
How To Do Punch & Judy – Sydney De-Hempsey – 1950
‘The Wizard’ Magic Magazine – Sydney De-Hempsey – 1955
Successful Punch & Judy – Glyn Edwards – 2000
A supplementary Thesis – Paul Jackson (Private Publication for London’s Magic Circle) – 2023.
How Do You Work?
The old timers, nay may we call them the traditionalists, would never have countenanced working (as we tend to do today) hands-in-front-of-face. They tended to work pre-amplification, shouting their heads off, up through the stage opening. They had the luxury of standing in an open area, the figures directly in front of them (so easily got at, that they never needed to look down, merely to drop their hands down and to thrust them into the skirt of the next puppet they required) and to dance around and swivel through 360 degrees with gay abandon. Smokey The Clown once did this and wondered why he wasn’t getting the expected reaction. When he looked up on stage, he realised that he’d been using the wrong puppet! Be alert. The country needs lerts.
The show was ‘quick’. It had to be, for while they will have built-up the strength in their arms and shoulders, there was only so long that they could sustain a performance (especially on the street where they needed to gather a bottle from the impoverished street ‘walkers’).
Old timers today reminisce about this style of working, recalling fondly (while nursing the restorative surgery they recently suffered in order to correct the damage inflicted on their shoulders) how they used to chase after the policeman or how better the ghost appeared, in their interminably long and continuous ‘it’s behind you’ routines. But I miss those days! Still, there’s more to life etc., etc.
The advantage of working in this manner is that they could out-pitch any competition and when, at any venue, they were in competition, could ensure they’d be seen over the heads of every over (temporary) structure. No one was left in any doubt as to where Mr. Punch was.
Hands-In-Front-Of-Face
Dropping the height of the theatre, to accommodate a hands-in-front-of-face performer, means there’s less structure, less canvass and less work. Surely that’s not a bad thing? The back-drop covers the performer’s face. Some wag once told me, ‘That’s because they’re such ugly buggers’, but don’t you believe a word of it! Workers’ use mics and amplifiers and can view the audience. If their reactions or lack of involvement is evident then the action can be changed to suit.
This style of working is fine except that the audience tends to come much closer to the booth. If you are not careful, you’ll lose your sausages or have the little darlings grab onto Mr. Punch’s legs. We’ve even seen an attempt made, to lift Mr. Punch clean off a professor’s hand mid-performance but as they say; ‘that’s another story!’ The puppets need hanging to one side. This may not be a concern but as ‘you’ are facing forward it does mean the puppets to the rear of the booth are less instantly got at.
A part solution, to the height concern, is to construct some sort of platform inside the theatre. We do this, ever-so-successfully but there is a cost to bear, with the additional loads you have to carry and with the reversion of the booth from a smaller to taller one and therefore with the consequent increased in material and cloth.
It all depends on how you wish to present Mr. Punch’s show.
Anyway – good luck.