Cultural Punch

[Chris]

Daniel Hanton kindly drew my attention to this clip:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... Episode_6/
the puppetry item being about 20 minutes into the programme.
The Punch coverage is mildly interesting, spoilt for me by the aggressively Northern accent of the presenter. Now I have a very distinct Yorkshire accent myself, and I enjoy hearing regional accents generally, but on radio and television I take speakers more seriously if they do not sound as though auditioning for a regional Soap.
The piece includes some footage of puppet crows from the same stable (pun intended) as War Horse - incredible movement. They also showed some film of a gigantic puppet - not so impressive in movement - but made no mention of the incredible giant puppets which took Liverpool by storm (the Little Girl and the Diver). I seem to remember that Nick Jackson posted a link on this Board.

[lesclarke]

This piece mentions the Big Grin funded photography project by Tom Hunter, now a V&A exhibition of portraits of 20 Punch Profs and their booths. I would like to view all the pics online, and have had a short search, but can't seem to find more than a few examples as part of publicity or promo bits.

Anyone know if they can be viewed online?

And, It's called 'Punch Professors in England', of the 4 I've seen so far, they seem London or South coast based, anyone know if any Profs North of the Watford Gap snapped?

[James]

Only 10 photos on display actually Les, though many more Profs posed for photos on the understanding that they would be part of the exhibition. 

Those used were Glyn and Katey Edwards, Robert Styles, Joseph Peeke, Mark Poulton, Rosa Peasley, Leslie and Adrienne Press, Dan Bishop, Bryan Clarke, Geoff. Felix, Brian Davey. 

The photos are interesting though quite dark. The ones chosen are generally of Punch shows against a dark or desolate background, or show the performer looking miserable or pensive. They're certainly not going for the happy jolly look. 

And from the point of view of a Punch prof, rather than an artist or a curator I think it would be much more interesting to do a who's who of performers, or at least to show a wider cross section. Notable exclusions being John Styles, Rod Burnett, The Codman Family, to name but a few.

I'm still waiting for the promised copy of my photo, as I know are others. The old adage holding true that when you do something for nothing...

On a more positive note it's nice to see Fred Tickner's set of puppets made for the BPMTG on display and that the Gus Wood booth/puppet display has finally been fixed. 

[lesclarke]

Thanks for the info James, it would be nice if eventually all the images taken, including those not in the exhibition, could be viewed online.

I don't mind the 'formality' of the couple I've seen so far, but bit of a pity if the sitters were directed not to be smiley just to fit in with some 'creative' concept. I would prefer a more straightforward approach of portraiture where the aim was to reveal something of the character of each performer.