"Punch & Judy is a little show, but it has deep roots in the British sense of itself: its eccentricity, its refusal to be tamed, its rough-and-readiness and its vigour. Performers have grasped this sense of identity and given it voice."
Dr. Martin Reeve. (from the foreword to 'Celebrating Mr. Punch: The Big Grin Book'.)
Reeve's 2009 doctoral thesis 'Contemporary Punch & Judy in Performance' may be seen here. It is the most comprehensive study of its kind for a generation.
Reeve also worked with The Punch & Judy College of Professors in 2012 on a filmed documentation of their approach to performance. The film "Punch: a living tradition" can be seen on the triple DVD "The Big Grin Collection". A glimpse of the making of the film appears on the V&A website. For further information about The Big Grin DVDs and book follow the PuppetLink and The Big Grin link above.
In 2000 members of The Punch & Judy College of Professors posted their own views on Punch and Judy at the start of a new millennium in a series of papers called the Slapstick Symposium.
Dr. Martin Reeve in discussion with a group from The Punch & Judy College of Professors
Other links on this page are to specific papers relating to puppetry and Punch and Judy and to general academic clusters of interest around puppets.
Teaching Puppetry in Higher Education: one day workshop co-ordinated by Matthew Isaac Cohen and hosted by Royal Holloway, University of London. Includes paper by Glyn Edwards of The Punch & Judy College of Professors. (2006)
The UNIMA Research Commission: Research of history, theory, critics and practise as theatre research in the field of puppet theatre.
The Puppet Working Group: An interdisciplinary group of postgraduate practitioner-researchers in puppetry based at Royal Holloway, University of London.
