FAQ's
Common Questions
For how long have you been running shows?
For many decades. Please see my Biography page.
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How long does the show last?
With a proper introduction, a normal show can fill a forty-five-minute slot.
Show times can be tailored to suit but we reason, if you are bringing us ‘here’, you may as well get value for money!
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What’s the best time for shows to start?
Leave the first show’s starting time 60 minutes after your event opens.
3 o’clock is Mr. Punch’s witching hour!
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Who will enjoy the show?
We encourage parents to sit with their children, so the shared experience aspect of our show is enhanced. Older children can stand-alone (prefer them to sit on the mats we provide!) and adults around the periphery can hold their drinks or food as they let their off-spring run riot. Woe betides any adult caught on their mobile phones however – the puppets have been trained to react to these situations!
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Where can the show be sited?
Point the audience away from where the sun will be at 3 o’clock. No one wants to be blinded by the light, least of all an eight-year-old. Protection at the rear of the theatre is nice and a flat, level surface is appreciated. We like to know whether the ground will be grass or pavings and whether there are any other restrictions. A picture or two of where you think would be suitable is welcome too. Sound and noise travel as an arrow from a bow and in the direction of where the speaker is pointed. It is nice if our rather loud speaker isn’t pointed at your musical bands, disco, dance bands, main P.A. systems etc.
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When is a Punch-Show most welcome!
Visitors, guests, attendees, see the booth, walk past it and note the show times on our bespoke show-board. We don’t need to gather a crowd; they return at the allotted time expecting a puppet show. When they leave their expectations are exceeded and a lot of them rush to thank Paul for giving them, their families and friends something special. We keep to the advertised show times for this reason.
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Why is it that parents still associate the Punch & Judy Show with wife-beating etc?
The illustrations from an 1828 book are freely reproduced by lazy journalists and these depict Mr. Punch duelling with his adversaries, both of whom wield a stick. (Historical note: It is the adversary who first brings a stick to the ‘party’) (Talks on the history, available upon request!) The Jonathan Bowden Archive is an example of very unhelpful ‘information’. He states “…Punch beats them to death! They come up, and they’re beaten to death, and they go down again very quickly….”
This reinforces the viewpoint the show is violent. What is presented is ‘slapstick humour’. Shows where indiscriminate violence is on display would no longer be tolerated by either audiences, clients or proper Punch and Judy ‘Professors’.
Poor performers can do nothing more than reproduce a show that was better suited to a 1950’s audience. And why should unknowing adults be expected to do a little research by speaking with their potential performer? After all, a Ford Fiesta car is the same today as it was when originally launched way back in 1976.
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How much time is required to set up?
It usually takes 90 minutes to set-up the booth, install the audio system and place the actors in their ‘dressing room’. The show can provide the first exposure to proper ‘theatre’ and anything less than 100% is therefore unacceptable.
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Can you accommodate the hearing impaired?
Sorry, no hearing loops are available for the show. The show is noisy, visually captivating and seeks to hit a number of emotional ‘buttons’ we hope everybody ‘gets’ something special from our appearances.
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I keep six honest serving men,
They are who, where, why, what and when.
I take them with me, wherever I go,
They’ve taught me everything I’ve ever needed to know.
Mind, there’s one more pal,
That I’d suggest you note now,
And that my friend,
Is a little chap called ‘how’!
With grateful apologies to Rudyard Kipling