Theatre
In 1644 theatres were demolished by Oliver Cromwell's Puritans. Under Cromwell's rule, in 1647, laws were passed regarding stage plays and theatres. By 1648 all playhouses were ordered to be pulled down. All players were to be seized and whipped, and anyone caught attending a play to be fined five shillings.
According to Bulstrode Whitelocke’s (1682) Memorials of the English Affairs, stage players were seized, their clothes were taken away, and they were carried off to prison.
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With the return of Charles II in 1660 and the Restoration of Monarchy the grim rule of Oliver Crornwell's Puritanism was over.
The good times rolled again: theatres opened, and gone were entertainment's dark days when fun was held to be sinful. Revelry was once more in fashion and the public's taste was all for amusement and novelty.
In the 1800s, William Dimond made the Royal Oak Story into a Theatre Production -The Royal Oak: An Historical Play (1811). It was originally acted at the Theatre-Royal, Haymarket in 1811. The following is from ACT III, Scene III:
OLD BALLAD
Skies are all clear
And the blue wave is near,
To waft thee from danger, sweet Charley!
'Tis over the water and over the lea
And over the water goes Charley!
A day and a night
Shall scarce take their flight,
'Ere England again calls for Charley -
Then over the water and over the lea,
And over the water comes Charley!
Charley must roam
Yet a while from his home,
A stranger beyond the salt billow -
But the hour soon shall come
When the beat of his drum,
False Roundheads shall scare from their pillow.
Huzza! for the crown
When the Rebel is down -
And huzza! for our own royal Charley!
Sail home with thy peers
And spruce cavaliers,
Old England shall welcome her Charley?
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Following on the heels of Charles II's triumphant return, came all manner of travelling showmen looking to make a good profit from catering to our fun-starved nation.
Among the travelling showmen was Pietro Gimonde a puppet player from Italy known to his public as 'Signor Bologna'. The cast of his show included a raucous, irreverent hunchback with a pot belly and a wicked sense of humour. His name was Pulcinelia - or, in the mouths of his English audience, Punchinello – eventually he became known to the English as Mr Punch.
Mr Punch was an immediate hit with the general public and nobility alike. His first recorded appearance in England was in May 1662, in London's Covent Garden.
Punch soon performed in front of Charles II himself - the first of a number of appearances made before royalty down the centuries:
HM The Queen meets professor Mark Poulton, Weymouth’s Punch and Judy man.
Punch and Judy can today still be found at beaches, parties, village fetes and festivities. Royal Oak Day is a perfect occasion for a Punch and Judy Show.
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