Punch and Judy

Punch and Judy is a chamber opera with music by Harrison Birtwistle and a libretto by Stephen Pruslin, based on the puppet figures of the same names. Birtwistle wrote the score from 1966 to 1967. The opera was first performed at the Aldeburgh Festival, which had commissioned the work, on 8 June 1968, with David Atherton conducting the English Opera Group. The premiere cast included John Cameron as Mr Punch. The work caused great controversy with members of the audience, because of the violence of the plot and the nature of the music. Benjamin Britten was reported to have left the premiere at the interval. The first US performance was in Minneapolis, and the first New York performance took place in 1988. The first performance in Austria was in 1991, by Wien Modern, with Birtwistle supervising the production. Birtwistle directed a revival of the opera at Aldeburgh in June 1991. With reference to the ballet of Igor Stravinsky, Paul Griffiths has characterized Mr Punch as "the exact contrary of Petrushka: a human being behaving as a puppet". David Wright has summarized how Birtwistle and Pruslin attempted to treat the characters and music in an archetypal manner to write what they have described as a "source opera". Jonathan Cross has published a detailed analysis of the opera. Roles Mr Punch – high baritone Judy, wife to Punch – mezzo-soprano Punch and Judy's baby – (non-singing) Pretty Polly – high soprano Choregos, friend to Punch – low baritone The Lawyer – high tenor The Doctor – bass Fortune-Teller (sung by the same singer as Judy) Witch (sung by the same singer as Pretty Polly) Jack Ketch (sung by the same singer as Choregos) 5 dancers/mimes – 2 women, 3 men