[NEohioPAL]Berko review: THE CONFESSIONS OF PUNCH AND JUDY/CPT

[Roy Berko]

GLTF PRESENTS ‘PUNCH AND JUDY’--A BLOW BY BLOW LOOK AT
LOVE

Roy Berko

(Member, American Theatre Critics Association)

--THE TIMES NEWSPAPERS--

Lorain County Times--Westlaker Times--Lakewood News
Times--Olmsted-Fairview Times	


Reaching back to 1742 there have been Punch and Judy
puppet shows in the United States.  If fact, it’s been
recorded that George Washington bought tickets for a
puppet play featuring Punch prior to the famous winter
at Valley Forge.  

It seems obvious that if someone wanted to write a
play about relational conflict they could do no better
than examine the lives of Punch and Judy since the
puppets spend most of their time dishing out verbal
and physical abuse.  It’s taken a long time for that
mission to be completed but Raymond Bobgan, Tannis
Kowalchuk and Ker Wells have accomplished the task.  

The conceivers began the development in what they have
named, ‘THE CONFESSIONS OF PUNCH AND JUDY’ (subtitled
‘YOU ALWAYS HURT THE ONE YOU LOVE’) in 2001 in
Toronto.  In 2004 the present version of the script
premiered on August 14, 2004 at the Catskill Festival
of New Theatre.   The show will play at Cleveland
Public Theatre through October 9, move to New York for
a February opening and then to Toronto in April, 2005.
 

In contrast to a traditional script which is developed
by an author or authors working alone, ‘THE
CONFESSIONS OF PUNCH AND JUDY’ is a collaboration, a
movement in drama entitled “devised theatre.”   It is
generated by the director and actors all of whom
function as the playwrights of the piece.  A similar
technique was used for developing the classic musical
‘A CHORUS LINE.’

‘THE CONFESSIONS OF PUNCH AND JUDY’ professes the
concept that Mr. Punch is a chauvinist who believes in
knocking trouble on the head.  He is portrayed as the
victim of a nagging wife, a crying child, personal
attacks by the authorities, the restriction of laws
and the fear of damnation.  Though this was an
acceptable pattern in the Victorian age, in the
present age of woman’s liberation, attitudes are
different.  Mainly, Judy fights back.  She refuses to
be dominated.  

The show is performed by two actors who leap between
realism and surrealism, exposing the horror and beauty
of a relationship.  In the case of Cleveland Public
Theatre, the very proficient actors are two of the
show’s conceivers, Tannis Kowalchuk (Judy) and Ker
Wells (Punch).  

Telling the “sweet tale of love blow by blow” the two
bicker about moon exploration, ballroom dancing
classes, relational honesty, the secret codes of male
and female language, and fighting techniques.  The
lines include such questions as “What are you doing?”
which gets the retort.  “Driving you crazy.”  A
hysterical scene portrays Judy cutting up vegetables,
decapitating legumes and chopping up a head of
cabbage, as the duo examines “love without
possession.”

Raymond Bobgan, as he did in his direction of the
Times Theatre Tribute award winning ‘BLUE SKY
TRANSMISSION:  A TIBETAN BOOK OF The DEAD’ shows he
has a total grasp of script and how to get his actors
to achieve the message.

CAPSULE JUDGEMENT:  The CPT production of ‘THE
CONFESSIONS OF PUNCH AND JUDY’ is a total success.  It
should be must viewing for any married couple or
anyone contemplating a long term relationship.  The
pacing is right on, the humor is high keyed, the
lessons are clear.

Tickets for ‘THE CONFESSIONS OF PUNCH AND JUDY’ can be
obtained by calling 216-631-2727.


=====
Roy Berko's web page can be found at royberko.info.  His theatre and dance reviews appear on NeOHIOpal, a free on-line source, which can be subscribed to at neohiopal at lists.fredsternfeld.com.


		
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