Punch and Judy

I can't seem to find very much information about this particular theater.

Toy Theatre Company lists it as "Kaspartheater (4) No 2l5." However each of the other sides of the sheet are printed in a different language "Punchinello," "Guignol" on a third, and "Punch and Judy" on the fourth making it difficult for me to determine the country of origin and do more research. That said this is a 1984 reprint from the Phoenix Papieren Theatre located in Utrecht, Netherlands. It is printed on heavy card stock and measures 3 1/2" W x 2"H.

Because I started building these models before it ever occurred to me to take pictures of them, the image of the uncut sheet above comes from the Toy Theatre Company. The photos below are of my model.

As always if anyone has additional information about this or any of the other theaters posted here, please let me know, and I will update my posts.

Odds 'n' Ends: Punch Finger Puppet

Here is where I take the opportunity to show off some of the toys and paper models I have collected, that are only tangentially related to tabletop theater.


This Punch finger puppet was a birthday present from my wife on my thirtieth birthday.

It was created by the German toy company Trullala. Trullala Spielwaren GmbH sells a wide variety of children's dress-up costumes and puppets. This Punch/Kasper finger puppet is approximately six inches tall. Made of cotton and felt, the head is papier-mâché covered in cotton fabric.

I cannot seem to find the exact finger puppet on the Trullala website, but they have a number of other Kasper/Punch dolls. Including the hand sized version of my finger puppet seen below.

Professor Frederick's Punch and Judy

I have had the pleasure of seeing Professor Frederick's Punch Van Winkle Show during Historic Hudson Valley's Legend Weekend for a number of years now.

Puppeteer Fred Greenspan and his wife have designed and published a finger puppet adaptation of Punch and Judy. I picked up a copy of their book a few years back, and spent a pleasant afternoon cutting and coloring the nine characters found inside. Also included in the book are a stagefront that can be mounted onto a box to create a theater, and a short Punch script to get people started with their own show.

You can pick up a copy of Greenspan's Punch & Judy Color & Cut Finger Puppet Theatre at Greg Johnson Books.