Punch & Judy

Samuel Peyps, first observed the ‘Punch & Judy’ Show outside St Paul’s Church in Covent Garden in 1662. Based on the Italian Commedia Dell’ Artè, Punch is a ‘naughty boy’ who creates havoc and mayhem throughout his world. Part of British folk culture, the puppet show still endures as a popular entertainment having gone through several periods of varying social acceptability. It traditionally can be seen at the British seaside and in Covent Garden at the annual May Fayre in the garden of St Paul’s, the actors’ church where many British Punch & Judy ‘Professors’ as they are known come to perform.