Punch and Judy Get Divorced

Judy fights with Punch. Punch fights with Judy. In fact, they’ve been fighting for centuries. Finally, they decide to get a divorce. A post-modern vaudeville romp, Punch and Judy Get Divorced borrows traditional characters of commedia dell’arte puppet theater and stirs them into a mix of ordinary loving, embattled men and women, and notable historical couples. The framework of this highly stylized, acrobatically choreographed new musical is a traveling “Punch & Judy” Puppet Show. Sets spin, actors become scenery, scenery becomes characters, and the themes of love, marriage, and rebellion pop up everywhere, as genders bend, identities blend, and the fun theatrics never end. Produced in association with the American Music Theatre Festival.

SYNOPSIS

A man and a woman meet. They are attracted to each other. They date. They become intimate and fall in love, or they fall in love and become intimate. They marry and have a child or children. They quarrel. They make up. Time passes. Punch and Judy Get Divorced borrows traditional characters of popular puppet theater and stirs them into a mix of ordinary, loving, embattled men and women, and notable historical couples. Punch, Judy, The Baby, The Dog, Polly The Other Woman, The Clown, and The Devil are all present. As sets spin, actors become scenery; scenery becomes characters; and the themes of love, marriage, and rebellion pop up everywhere. Punch and Judy with the Devil’s help reenact the story of Adam and Eve. Polly, the other woman, tries to steal Punch away from Judy. In Part II, all the actors, men and women, play Judys: all the Judys who are divorced, widowed, deserted, and alone by choice. The single Judy who misses Punch, the Judy who never had a Punch, the Judy who never wanted any Punch, and the Judy who prefers Judys all live together and talk and sing of life without men.