Punch began his career in the UK at the same time as the Book of Common Prayer. The two could scarcely have been more different. Punch had his grating voice and street-appeal. The BCP had dignity and depth. Punch was a puppeteer’s delight and a cheeky seaside favourite. The BCP was part of an ordered Sunday matched to a building like St Martin-in-the-Fields. Neo-gothic did not somehow seem gentlemanly enough to sustain the type of worship suited to an urban townscape. Not that Punch saw himself as above the rest of the community; he was close to his audience, who gave him warning of danger at his back and collected the pennies and perhaps tanners when the show came to an end.
Punch came from a mummer’s background. St George and the Dragon were prominent in his childhood, just as the magic lantern was to become when it carried all before it into the moving age of home entertainment. We are back in the days when Luke could describe such an audience (Luke 7.31, 32). They were fans first of one style, then another. The same was true of the mummers’ successors. King George and the Dragon had an enduring appeal – especially perhaps for those who found the mystery-plays promoted by the Church to be too serious to attract the crowds.
Film-goers were reminded of all this in ‘The Sound of Music’. Puppetry has come of age and gets the choreography it deserves. Knockabout routine it may be but who wants anything else from a puppeteer?
Puppets have found their way into Christian worship and look to continue in that vein. Morality plays in their day were used as evangelistic show-pieces to express the Christian message. If a time of Christian worship today seems close to a music festival, this perhaps is the price we have to pay for winning the interest and support of former Punch and Judy entertainers.
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