Punch and Judy
Punch and Judy is a popular British glove-puppet show for children, featuring Mr. Punch and his wife Judy. The performance consists of a sequence of short scenes, each depicting an interaction between the anarchic Mr. Punch and one other character (the show is traditionally performed by a single puppeteer, known as a Professor, who of course can only perform two characters at a time).
Mr. Punch wears a jester's motley, is hunchbacked and his hooked nose almost meets his curved jutting chin. He carries a stick, as large as himself, which he freely uses upon all the other characters in the show. He speaks in a bizarre rasping voice, produced by a contrivance known as a swazzle or swatchel which the Professor holds in his mouth, transmitting his gleeful cackle— "as pleased as Punch".
The Punch and Judy show has deep roots; it is ultimately based on the Italian commedia dell'arte, and the figure of Punch derives ultimately from the stock character of Pulcinello. He is a manifestation of the Lord of Misrule and Trickster figures of deep-rooted mythologies. Judy was originally "Joan."
May 9, 1662 is reckoned the birthday of Mr. Punch, for that was the first time the diarist Samuel Pepys observed a Punch and Judy show near St. Paul's Church in London's Covent Garden. It was performed by an Italian Punchman, Pietro Gimonde operating as "Signor Bologna". Pepys described the event in his diary: "...an Italian puppet play, that is within the rails there, which is very pretty, the best that I ever saw, and great resort of gallants." This is considered the first written record of a Punch and Judy performance. Pepys went back several more times and continued to be amused. The Punch he saw was a marionette not a glove-puppet, and worked his show within a tent.
The simplification of the show to an easily transportable booth with a pair of sock-puppet characters happened in the early 19th century. A transcript of a typical Punch and Judy show in London of the 1840s can be found in Henry Mayhew's London Labour and the London Poor.
Featuring, as it does, a deformed, child-murdering, wife-beating psychopath who commits appalling acts of violence and cruelty upon all those around him and escapes scot-free, it is greatly enjoyed by small children.
Derived usage
Many pairs of fictional characters in other works are named 'Punch' and 'Judy' in homage; for example:
