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Punch and Judy are jumping out of their puppet booth! A brand new Dark Comedy where you get to know them as never before!
Over the past 18 months we have been writing a brand new Dark Comedy inspired by Punch and Judy. The show alternates between fast paced slapstick and clowning, where Punch meets all of the characters your remember from your childhood - and sandwiched between that is Punch and Judy as a real couple. It’s slapstick, it’s naturalism, it’s unlikely fight scenes, and deeply problematic relationships, it’s dance routines and silly songs, it’s domestic turbulence and an unending cycle of violence, it’s caricatures and capers, it’s two people with hopes and fears, whose commitment to a life together is slowly killing them. It’s two distinct and separate genres that slowly begin to breakdown and merge into one. It’s silly, and it’s tragic, and it’s definitely not for the kids.
SkinnedTeeth are a brand new Theatre Company formed of two Actor/Writers; Mike Swain and Bethany Irving, who together have a combined experience of 35 years in the Industry. After working together for many years on other projects (mostly in physical comedy) we decided it was time to take the leap and create our own Theatre Company. That's where we began developing "Punching Judy."
Up until now we’ve done it all by ourselves – we did the research, we wrote the play, we built this bespoke Punch and Judy booth and a giant crocodile and equipped ourselves with a rather ridiculous array of props. And now we need your help to see this project through to fruition.
Anything you can give will go a long way towards getting this show on! We are testing the show first in London before we bring it for a weeks run at Edinburgh Fringe. Any donations will help toward the cost of Theatre Hire and Accommodation, for paying a proper Fight Director (Jack of all Blades!) to help us not actually kill each other by accident and towards the cost of building all the props and set - we've not picked an easy show to kit out! Ideally we'd like to raise enough to help towards advertising too! But this story is a huge part of our national heritage; many of us have grown up with Punch and Judy – and now Punch and Judy are growing up.
We are so ridiculously excited to finally bring this show to life, and we hope that you are just as excited to join us on this journey!
The show will premiere at the Hope Theatre, Islington, on the 3rd and 4th May, and then we’re heading to Edinburgh for our Fringe debut from 24th August. But we won't stop there! We want to use this to launch us into 2027 and to take Punching Judy on tour - so if you don't catch us this time - let us know where you'd like to see us next!
Funding method
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 31st August 2026 at 11:59pm