Recreating an 18th Century Punch show

One of the projects crowding my "to-do" list is creating new heads for the characters in my Punch show.

Currently, made of non-period materials, I want wooden heads to match the period puppets for my show. The heads are patterned after Cruikshank drawings and I want to reproduce the same look in wood.

This is the start of the process and I'll update progress on this project from time to time here as well as on the Woodland Puppets News blog. I hope the heads will be done sometime this summer so that all future shows will be totally period correct to the 18th century.

I will also post about the process of building the show, stage, and other aspects, too. I am writing a longer article for publication in the Journal of Early America and possibly the Puppeteers of America's Journal.

Some things never change--"hunting the squirrel"

Well, it seems time has passed quickly and over a year has passed since my last post. Life, as they say, intrudes on life.

All the raging stampede in the stores this past weekend, not to mention the tear-gassing taking place in many venues for many reasons, reminded me of another kind of rage and riot that also has not changed. And you may be surprised at this.

In Liza Picard's "Dr. Johnson's London" (p. 31) we find that life then as now had a certain outrageous flavor:

Riding a coach had its own set of dangers, what with abysmal roads, wide carter wagons, and bad suspensions, "If the coachman was wicked, he would follow a 'one horse chaise . . .passing so close to it so as to brush the wheel, and by other means terrifying any person that may be in it.' This incitement to road rage was know as 'hunting the squirrel'." (taken from Francis Grose's "A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue", London 1785).

On a different note: check out the latest NAVC Gathering in Winnipeg.

Eagle River Clerk's Report

The following is an excerpt from the journal kept for the post at Riviere d'Aigle in the fall of the year:


Sept. 29 Wednesday Rainy cool weather. Arrived riviere d'Aigle in the late afternoon   as the house is already built we Moved our goods and other supplies inside and Readied for trade. Mr. Oakes being yet upon the Portage I expect him tonight  We shall greet him with a fire, a pip, and a toast to our Safe journeys here.

Mr Oakes & co arrived some time later while still light  But two more upon the trail did not arrive until Late

30th Thursday Sky clear temp 44 Heavy dew  We were up early lighting a fire and awaiting the arrival of the local band of Sauteur The post was occupied all day with comings and goings though Without much trade activities.  old A-- brought in some castorum and a few musquach  the Night was passed quietly until the Men got into a keg of HW.

Fri Oct 1 Cool 36 degrees at dawn the Post was comfortable at 50 degrees A fire was laid in preparation of the day. Piere des Auniers accused one of the men of stealing his Cassette we discovered a keg full of water upon a shelf, this after much desire of water but none willing to fetch it.

Soon we were busy with many Natives arriving to trade and Look over our goods. The day which had been overcast became Rainy shortly after noon Many of our visitors came I believe mainly for the warmth of our fire Mr Oakes exhorted them to trade with us and bring us their Furrs and meat.


Sat the 2nd Cool 37 degrees Parly cloudy Last nights Regale has made for a quiet morning A-- a local free trader came by this morning and shared the meat he had taken this morning.  Passed the day giving credits to 3 families that came on their way to Winter camp. Sun later but quite cold.

The text ends abruptly in torn pages. Perhaps the rest will come to light upon investigation. In the meantime, your Obt Clerk is obliged to return to the accountbooks.

North American Voyageurs Council Fall Gathering a month away

The North America Voyageurs' Council annual Fall Gathering is just a month away. For those of you who have attended, you know the wide range of workshops available, not only on the fur trade but relating to 18th century living, Native peoples, and so on. For those of you who have not attended before, this is a chance to meet interpreters and reenactors from all over the Midwest and Canada (and Alaska and New York, you get the idea), and discover the rich resources of talent and knowledge NAVC gathers each year.

And at a cost of $85 (which includes a $10 yearly membership) that includes your food, lodging, all this knowledge (a few workshops with hands on "take away" projects have minimal materials fees), you can't go wrong!

Sign up today. Visit the NAVC Fall Gathering web page for more information.

North American Voyageurs Council Fall Gathering

We're just a month away from one of the country's best educational programs for reenactors and interpreters, especially those involved with the fur trade of North America.

The North American Voyageurs Council presents Fall Gathering 2010 the first weekend in November. This year we are meeting at the Forts Folle Avoine near Danbury Wisconsin. Folle Avoine is the site of two fur posts, the North West Company and the XY Company, which have been reconstructed on the original footprint. Attendees will be able to sleep right on the same earth that Michel Curot, John Sayers, and George Nelson, amongst others lived.

Some exceptional workshops this year, plus an appearance by none other than Punch and his 18th century coterie of mayhem.

Click on the Fall Gathering link above to get more information and download a registration form. More info needed, contact clerk@navoyageur.org


Hope to see you there!

One post to another

Not much to report of late since moving from one event to another over the past 8 months has meant equipment repair and preparation, not to mention also working.

Last weekend was the Fall Gathering at the Snake River fur post in Pine City which was great--good weather, better friends!

Coming at the end of September/first weekend of October is the Living History Event in Eagle River, WI. This event used to be in February (-40, as seen below). Should be be much warmer and, I hope, drier than it has been the past few days.

 I'll post some pix of the trade goods I've prepared for this year's event--packages and fabric bolts. Between my goods, Karl Koster's, and Dave Klessig's I think we'll have a very full trading post.

Haven't had a chance to get out to gather oak gall due to weather and other commitments. I hope to get out next week or the first week in October.

I will be processing the oak galls at Eagle River in preparation to make more ink to dehydrate for powder (batch number 5; batch number 4 was small but very nice and for sale along with a couple of batch 3 left).

Grand Portage revisited, pt 2 Punch and friends

Early one evening during Rendezvous week at Grand Portage, Mr Punch made his appearance. No modern or PC character he, this was the 18th century antagonist, the street theater Punch of Everyman.

The English street show grew out of the Commedia del Arte tradition of Italian theater. Pulchinello found new homes and audiences outside Italy, becoming the founding character for a variety of puppet traditions throughout Europe. Coming to England in the 17th century as a marionette (though he was already a glove puppet, too, in Italy), Punch as he became known soon moved from a comedy relief character in larger theater pieces at fairs, notably Bartholomew Fair, to a character with his own story, outlook, and personna.

England already had a long tradition of glove puppetry. Punch began life as a glove puppet "out front", doing fight schtick and inviting the public into see the larger marionette productions (you can see such characters in Hogarth look at right side of the photo for the glove puppets, with a painting of Punch with his wife, Joan, in a wheelbarrow).

Although there is a lot of exposition behind what is really going on behind the action of Punch (political and social, the rage of the lower/middling classes to the institutions that controlled their lives, and so on), suffice it to say that Punch represented the "great unwashed" who enjoyed the show for what it was and what Punch was able to do.

Even though the actual crowd at Grand Portage would not have seen something like this, Punch and his puppet cohorts had existed in the New World for a couple centuries, certainly being performed along the Atlantic seacoast according to various accounts (ref. Paul McPharlin's "Puppetry in America"). The audience attending this 18th century performance, albeit in the summer of this year, were definitely engaged. I was a bit apprehensive of the children in the audience, but they were even more vocal and boisterous, encouraging Punch, than their elders.

All in all, I want to thank Ft William Historical Park for "calling my bluff" and encouraging me, as a professional puppeteer in real life, to mount this show for their July rendezvous, and Grand Portage for inviting me to present, too. And most of all, the audience. I believe that puppeteers and reenactors are the two groups who present the best audiences for this type of show, understanding both the context and temper of the times, and the Art.

Next up for Punch, the North American Voyageur's Council Fall Gathering (NAVC) in November at Folle Avoine, Danbury WI.