<blockquote>Taking those measurements Tony found on the advert, coupled with what Edwin himself describes, I think that I have a pretty good idea of the design. If Doug or anyone else fancies building such a frame they should first aquire a copy of "Hello Mr Punch" by Edwin, published by Supreme Magic. (Try Adrian Harris
http://www.secondhandmagic.com) and refer to page 14. The bottom part of your fit-up is probably identical to this except that front back and sides are shown as 37.5 inches while you will need to reduce the sides to 30 inches. It should be pointed out that Edwin's measurements for the folding struts are slightly (and annoyingly) inaccurate. So you need a get a copy of either "The Frame File" or "The Extended Frame File" by John Alexander, both of which give the Bob Sacco invaluable formula for working out these proportions for any size of frame. Contact John Alexander via his website
http://www.punchandjudyshow.com.
The top section of the fit-up will be similar to that illustrated on Page 16 of "Hello Mr Punch" except the back struts will be 30.5 inches rather than 36.5 inches. The front struts will be 22.5 inches and of course will not have the hardboard facings.
You will need to add struts from front to back, and an inward facing playboard.
Although the Cabaret Puppet Theatre had a higher back than front, thus forming a backcloth (which Tony refers to as an upstand?) this is totally pointless. You may as well make back and front the same height, and this will make construction that much easier.
The reason I say this is because any backcloth set 30 inches behind the playboard (as this is) will not be seen by a child seated on the floor unless that child were at least 10 feet back from the booth. And since this booth is for domestic use the children will be nearer. A child sitting on the floor 6 feet in front of the booth could only see that part of a backcloth which was over 7 foot high. Pointless.
Of course these sight-line considerations draw attention to the merits of the hands-in-front designs for fit-ups especially in the domestic and close quarter performing situation.</blockquote>