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With Mr. Punch the Online Journal of the Worldwide Friends of Punch and Judy Volume 7 No 3 Dec 2003

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With Mr. Punch the Online Journal of the Worldwide Friends of Punch and Judy Volume 7 No 3 Dec 2003 Around The World With Mr. Punch The Online Journal of the worldwide friends of punch and judy Volume 7 No 3 Dec 2003 The Clown Prince of Spin puppet routine was conceived. The puppet was made by Brian Davey at the request of your Editor (who did the plate-spinning) and drew additional media attention to the Festival by being featured in at least one mass circulation UK daily paper as well as Jolly on TV. Holidays Punch ‘Profs’ and partners performing that week-end were Dan Bishop, Rod Burnett, and a Clive Chandler, Tony Clarke, Brian & Alison Davey and Glyn &Mary Edwards. These Happy were augmented by the Walking Tall Theatre New Year It’s always nice to keepCompany’s troupe of Giant Dancing Punch tradition alive - especially theand Judy figures (Punch, Judy, the baby, and to all our tradition of using puppets toClown Joey) accompanied by the Jumbo poke fun at our politicalJazz Band. Also on hand were the Bostin’ readers masters. Anyway, that wasArts Puppet Workshop running a free puppet the thought behind lettingmaking stall for passers-by. Special Tony Blair appear as Tonyoverseas guest was Andras Lenardt from The Clown at theHungary with his inimitable Mikropodium Aberystwyth Punch and Judytheatre presenting micro-scale puppets of Festival last August. Lettingjewel like quality. him take over the plate- The event was described by Aberystwyth as spinning routine in the show “wall-to-wall Punch and Judy” and took place provided the perfect reason mainly along the seafront promenade (which for introducing him as Tony, still has traditional donkey rides). An evening the Clown Prince of Spinand event in a small local theatre saw the thus firmly aiming at his College perform to a full house with a government’s perceived mixture of puppet routines plus question and weakness as being strong on answer sessions to an enthusiastic spin and short on substance. audience. Coming, as it did, during the legal enquiry into the eventsThe Festival was organised by Jim Griffiths, surrounding the tragic deathTown Clerk of Aberystwyth, with Clive of weapons expert Dr. DavidChandler of the Punch and Judy College of Kelly and the so-calledProfessors. It attracted some 5,000 visitors “sexing-up” of the Britishto the town over the August Bank Holiday government dossier on Iraq’sand was short-listed for an award by the alleged weapons of massWelsh Tourist Authority. If anyone thinks that destruction it had a morePunch and Judy are not welcome at the pointed (and poignant)seaside these days - let them consider topicality than when theAberystwyth and reflect. PUNCH AND THE UK LICENSING BILL it had done for centuries and plays were subject to official censorship (by means of the dreaded ‘blue pencil’) by the functionaries in his department. The 1960s legislation was designed to sweep away this anachronism and bring the whole field up to date. Various new statutes were enacted about where entertainments could be mounted and what licenses and permissions the various premises would need. Along with this went various categories in which different types of performance were defined so that everyone knew what was what when actually seeing that they law was carried out correctly. Prof. John Codman’s celebrated Llandudno Punch Show ofyesteryear These categories are being carried forward to the new Licensing Bill - and one of them Punch and Judy performers - alongrewards of suing for damages at the defines the Punch and Judy Show with puppeteers and other artists or sprain of a wrist. as being carried out in ‘premises’. entertainers working in their traditional areas in the UK - have And then came the Licensing Bill.In the intervening years there found a great deal of extra red tape have been no cases of any town surrounding their activities over the This new piece of legislationcouncil or other similar licensing past few years. Starting with thecurrently undergoing a authority actually treating a Punch ubiquitous Public Liability Insurancegovenmental ‘consultation process’ and Judy booth as ‘premises’ requirements introduced a few years(Hah!) before becoming UK law is requiring a license - but that is not back there soon followed the need to complex and contentious. Itto say that this state of affairs will fill in Risk Assessment Forms inproposes to update radically the continue. Cash-strapped local order to comply with various entertainment laws previouslygovernment is under a legal provisions of the Health and Safetyupdated in the 1960s and only obligation to maximise its income. Inspectorate when performing in tinkered with since. Whether itIf it overlooks taking money from public. Later came the requirement torepresents a ferocious unleashing Punch and Judy it will be in have a certificate stating that an of further red tape that will interferebreach of its duty. Hence the fight official Criminal Records Bureauin such inoccuous pastimes as pub to secure exemption. check had been run for the purposessingalongs or whether it represents of gaining clearance for working witha landscape of new opportunities The government doesn’t - of children and other vulnerable for working performers is hotlycourse - talk directly to Punch and members of society. Not all of thesecontended. Equity, the actors and Judy performers (although represent nanny state bureaucracy entertainers union, believes itindividuals can in theory petition gone mad. Some are a genuinerepresents new opportunities with their MP to make the case on response to societies changing the exception of one or two areastheir behalf). Serious discussions attitudes towards the care of thefor which it is seeking exemption. are carried out with bodies such young and the scare of paedeophilia as Equity and Arts Council and others (we Brits blame thePunch and Judy Shows are one of England - and the Punch and Yanks!) are due to the increase in the those areas. Judy performers of England have culture of litigation. ‘Ambulance good contacts with both. chasing’ lawyers (an unknownAt this point the story veers off into phenomenon in the UK until verythe bizarre and we need to go back Equity is making the case for recently) have caused a sea-change to the 1960s. At this time The LordPunch and Judy with vigour - and in public attitude to risk - and theChamberlain’s Office held sway as spaces such as seaside promenades, if any resulting costs are passed on to the performers it will have the same terminal effect. If this government is to go down in social history as the one which finally ended a much loved seaside tradition it should at least be made fully aware of what it is doing, and it needs organisations of the weight Postcard of Ryde on the Isle of Wight (date and provenance of Equity and unknown). The side of the booth also advertises ACE to draw it to their attention. ‘marionettes’. Needless to say there have been we expect no less from Artsseaside which is the perceived mis-informed scare stories in Council England. cultural stereotype as to where sections of the UK press to the you'll find Punch and Judy) a effect that the Licensing Bill will The preceding information sets outdifferent set of factors come into put an end to Punch and Judy. the background to the story. Theplay. It has long been a bone ofThis is manifestly not so - but the extracts below (from the a letter bycontention that seaside borough long pedigree of the show has Punch and Judy College ofcouncils will make performers resulted in the quirky situation of it Professors to their contact at Artstender for a concession in the being classed as a play which Council England) explains what itsame manner as ice-cream vans requires premises for a could mean in practice ifand donkey rides. Having to pay forperformance - rather than as ‘an exemption is not gained. a 'pitch' - and often then having to entertainment’ (such as a street- compete for custom with the same entertainer might provide) which council's programme of free does not. “It's a simple message to the effect summer entertainments which that the final half a dozen or so paradoxically may well contain UK Profs should - I suppose - be beach Punch and Judy Shows in street theatre - has virtually thankful that they don’t receive the UK will be put out of business extinguished Punch and Judy atfunding from central government. unless they are exempted from the the seaside. It's a commercially Were this to be the case a whole provisions of the Bill. This may not fragile proposition at the best offresh set of paperwork would seem a great deal - but if it were times and any additional outgoings descend requiring each Prof to the last half dozen exponents of in the way of a license fee will - I am provide ‘statistical evaluation and Hebridean mouth music (or some convinced - be its death knell.monitoring feedback’ along with similar cultural curiosity of long Although the Minister's stated detailed information about pedigree) you'd find musicologists intention is to encourage local‘performance indicators and equally up in arms and rightly so. authorities to license public open ethnic monitoring’. Don’t ask! You'll know that The College takes a pro-active stance on the best interests of the Punch and Judy tradition and we trust that ACE can help us. I would imagine that 99.9% of Punch and Judy performances will not be affected by the provisions of the new bill as the tradition of Punch and Judy as primarily a busking entertainment has long given way to Punch and Judy as a pre-booked attraction at various venues. These venues are always appropriately licensed. But to keep a seaside pitch alive (and it is the Unidentified seaside show of recent times.
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