Review: 'The Devil and Mister Punch'
So what happened after Mister Punch, the famous puppet, beat his wife Judy to death after having thrown their baby out the window? Julian Crouch and the rest of the creative team called Improbable are here to tell us, and it’s not a pretty story. As Toby Zinman notes, this is definitely not a puppet show for kids.
By Toby Zinman
So what happened after famous puppet Mr. Punch beat his wife Judy to death after having thrown their baby out the window? Julian Crouch and the rest of the creative team called Improbable are here to tell us, and it's not a pretty story. This is definitely not a puppet show for kids.
Combining the grotesque and the charming, the creepy and the funny, the philosophic and the dopey, the nostalgic and the ruthless, The Devil and Mister Punch is a puppet show with human actors (or maybe vice versa).
There is a piano and bass fiddle and a metronome — this is, finally, a show about time. And cruelty. And death. There is also a typing dog, a crocodile and a piglet chorus ("Wave your little trotters"). Two knights in full armor clash in battle, first in miniature and then lifesize, and Mr. Punch winds up in a hell that would do Hieronymus Bosch proud. All this takes place in a miniature theater where sometimes-visible hands create remarkable effects. The middle of the show feels too long, but the ultimate effect is both profound and entertaining.
$25-$30. 7 p.m. 9/11, 13 and 14; 6 and 9 p.m. 9/15; 8 p.m. 9/16. Christ Church Neighborhood House, 20 N. American St. (near 2nd and Market Streets).
