THE comical antics of Punch and Judy will entertain crowds at the upcoming Annual Porchetta Day.
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Adelaide performer Keith Preston is bringing his Historic Punch and Judy show to Gunnedah to give visitors to the annual food festival a glimpse of the street theatre of medieval Italy.
Mr Preston’s show is one of the few ‘authentic’ Punch and Judy puppet shows still surviving in Australia. The show includes lots of action, audience participation and slapstick comedy.
It is presented in the traditional style made famous by the early Punchmen of the Victorian and Edwardian periods and features many of the old characters, plots and scenes associated with the Punch and Judy show.
First seen in Australia in the 1840’s, the character of Punch actually dates back to medieval Italy.
Punch arrived in England in 1663 from Italy as the marionette Pulchinello (noted by the famous London diarist Samuel Pepys).
The character evolved into Punch over the next century and Punch appeared extensively both as a marionette and as a comic actor and slowly acquired a more English character that was a cross between the English Jester, Fool and the Shakespearean comic characters.
In the late 1700’s the London puppet theatres closed and Punch and Judy as we know it appeared as a busking act on the streets of London as a portable hand-puppet show.
Mr Preston has performed his show all over Australia, including at the popular Woodford Folk Festival and
Melbourne International Puppet Carnival, and overseas including Pakistan, USA and Singapore.
He even travelled to England last year to celebrate Punch’s 350th birthday.