Puppet Research

From 1700 to 1800

Puppet theatre in 18th-century London became fashionable adult entertainment. After 1710, when Martin Powell's puppets from Dublin opened at a theatre in St Martin's Lane, other marionette theatres were soon established.

Powell's theatre had footlights, backcloths and scenery. He performed in a tavern in Covent Garden and in towns outside London including Bath, Bristol and Oxford. His marionettes lampooned famous people and satirised current theatrical fashions, such as Italian opera. Other 18th-century London puppet theatres included Punch’s Theatre in James Street and the Patagonian Theatre in Exeter Change.

In 1770 a company of fantoccini, or Italian marionettes, introduced a new wave of continental puppet theatre to London. Italian companies performed comic opera, plays in the style of the commedia dell’arte featuring Harlequin and Columbine, and 'magical' transformations of scenery.

By 1777 there were four puppet companies in the West End as well as an oriental-style shadow theatre show called 'Ombres Chinoises' (or 'Chinese Shadows'). The famous impresario Philip Astley managed one of these for a while and included shadow theatre in an entertainment he put on in Piccadilly.

By the end of the century puppet shows at large fairs (many of which featured the marionette version of Mr Punch) almost died out because they were too expensive to operate. Instead, the glove puppet version of Punch and Judy began to be a familiar sight in portable booths on the streets of London.

Punch's head, Richard Codman Snr, early 19th century. Museum no. S.420-2001

This carved wooden head of Mr. Punch was made in the early 19th century for a member of the Codman family, Punch and Judy men for four generations. In 1946 it was presented by Richard Codman Senior to another well-respected Punch Professor, Percy Press I.

Mr Punch has had his cone-shaped hat for a long time. A 17th-century ballad referred to Mr Punch's conical hat, his amorous character, and to a character who: 'kissed like Punchinello or a sucking pig.'

Punch has also had his characteristically squeaky voice for hundreds of years, directions for a 17th-century play note that a character should 'speak in Punchinello's voice'. An account of a performance by Punch and the Devil in 1699 noted that their dialogue was: 'conveyed to the ears of the listening rabble through a tin squeaker, which was thought by some of 'em as a great piece of conjuration as was ever performed by Dr. Faustus'. This is a reference to the Italian 'pivetta' which Punchmen today call a 'swazzle'.

Mother Shipton's head, Clowes Excelsior Troupe, 19th century, Museum No. S.421-2001

This is the carved wooden head of a marionette of Mother Shipton, owned in the 20th century by the puppeteer Clunn Lewis and in the 19th century by the Clowes Excelsior troupe.

Mother Shipton featured as a character in 18th-century plays, and in 1712 the puppeteer Martin Powell advertised the play 'Mother Shipton and the Downfall of Cardinal Wolsey'. The same play was mentioned by an American journalist in 1728, writing about the English puppet theatre.

From early Tudor times, Mother Shipton was considered a prophetess, both in her local Yorkshire and around the country. Her many prophesies are said to have included the death of Wolsey, the Civil Wars and the Great Fire of London. She appears in illustrations as an ugly old lady with a hooked nose and an upturned chin. Pepys referred to Mother Shipton, and she appeared as a character in 17th-century plays and pantomime as well as in the puppet theatre where she was usually a trick puppet who smoked a pipe.


Source- http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/h/history-of-puppetry-in-britain/