“Not suitable for children of any age” states the flier for Punch and Judy, the live-action adaptation of the classic puppet show which has entertained multitudes for the past two thousand years. Written and directed by Christopher Johnson, founder of Chicago’s Defiant Theater, this X-rated Punch and Judy mixes Commedia dell’Arte, Grand Guignol, chainsaw horror movies and gleeful raunch to tell its manic, blood-spattered story. The play, which is now running at the 2016 Hollywood Fringe Festival, stars Jimmy Slonina as Mr. Punch, a beak-masked psychopath who tries to kill everyone who crosses his path. That includes not just his overbearing wife Judy (Sondra Mayer) but her niece, Pretty Polly (Synden Healy), and a slew of others, including a dog, a baby and the devil himself (Eric Rollins). Slonina, whose day job is Benny the Clown in Cirque du Soleil’s Mystere in Las Vegas, is a charismatic performer, skilled at comedy and physical theater, fully capable of carrying Punch and Judy on his shoulders. He also manages to turn the murderous Mr. Punch into a likable character, one who always has a good reason for his reprehensible behavior. He bludgeons, stabs, shoots, fights, and lies his way into your heart, drawing laughs all along the way. He also makes you admire him for the way he outwits all his adversaries: not just his shrewish wife but police, judges, hangmen, and a sword-wielding Lucifer. Mr. Punch is also a horny and priapic hero, one who is proud of his giant erections and flaunts them in public, especially when women are around. Rude, politically incorrect and bawdy, this human puppet is bigger than life, memorable for his outrageousness. Solid production values help make Punch and Judy the success it is: Linda Muggeridge’s costumes are a hoot, ditto Andrew Leman’s graphic and puppet designs. Ryan Beveridge on percussion underlines all the slapstick effects, and Jen Albert has choreographed the clamorous fight scenes. But above all, it’s the inspired performances of Slonina & Co that give life and spirit to this deconstructed version of the Punch and Judy story.
