Yes CSS ..lights above , behind the Prosc are a daft idea on a hands in front booth ...far too near the backcloth , and would only light the tops of puppets heads ( and the inside of your working area, savante bag , hanging puppets etc) ....wasnt thinking there sorry - just getting carried away with the possibility of using small portable lights , and spoke before engaging brain ...not for the first ( or I daresay the last) time

BUT ......
Having now taken delivery of 2 of the Maplin Torches , I am now in a position to make a direct comparison.
My advice ...Dont bother with the Maplin ones folks ...seriously ...just don't !
"Buy Cheap - Buy Twice" as the saying goes.
Except for the fact that they are black in colour , they in no way compare to the Flashaholics H502 Flood Beams..
Apart from their colour , they are in every way inferior ...dont get me wrong they are a nice little sturdy torch , keep one in your bedside cabinet for power cuts by all means , but for Punch use as discussed here...just not suitable.
They are quite heavy ( but CSS mounting system would cope superbly with them ...but would also be knockout for the H502's as well )
They are big ..the 502s are tiny and would be very discrete...certainly not ugly if mounted on a small outrigger on each end of the play board for example.
And whatever the packaging does or doesnt say , the are palpably less bright than the 502s
( they do switch to a wonderful morse code SOS flicker should you ever find yourself lost with your booth and in need of air ambulance rescue )
But the major downfall is their alleged 'Flood' mode ...it just seems like a slightly widened version of its 'spot' mode ...not a true 'flood' at all.
Even at a distance of two feet from the booth , it still produces a white circle of light .....the 502s give a total even and full wide 'wash' of light even from 3 inches ....quite amazing , and unlike any other torches I have ever seen : wherever you choose to mount them they will give your whole proscenium area an even wash of light with no hotspots.
The Maplins torches , by comparison , at the kinds of distances discussed in this strand - (at playboard ends , or a Les-type outrigger from above/sides) - only produce a 4 to 5 inch circle of light , enough to catch a puppets face , but only if it never moved at all . Or if at at a very oblique angle , an ellipse of light , as CSS mentions.. but this just creates a ribbon band of light ( like wide lasers in discos if you are old enough to remember such things ) ..ie : a band of light that puppets would move in
and out of !
In short the Maplins torches are NOT fit for
our purpose , and HO2s
are and also really REALLY worth the money.
As CSS said in his first reply here ...if you think of it as a stage light , not a torch, its cost is suddenly better value
I am very lucky as I have another job that can use the H02s : in fact Les' posting of this strand was very timely for me , as it solved the problem of how to achieve an effect ( I need to
internally illuminate 5 largish jellyfish puppets ) so I am treating myself to another 3 x HO2s so I have 5 for that film work ...when done I will remove them from the jellyfish , and have 4 to use on the Booth ( 2 on playboard ends and 2 from above on a Les type rig ) ..and also one left over as a really excellent head torch. It wont be until late Autumn ..but when I have had a chance to make those rigs and set it up, I will post some photos here.
The two Maplins Torches will never go anywhere near a Punch Booth , and are already next to the bed , and by the electricity meter , where in my opinion , they belong.
Hope that helps anyone wrestling with what to buy.
All the Best Richard.