Emergence of an Anti-Theatre for the Youth in the United States: The Case of Punch and Judy by Aurand Harris

Year 2001, Issue: 13, 3 - 11, 01.04.2001

Anne Cirella-urrutia

Abstract

The British pantomime, the Punch and Judy puppet show, and the farce are three major dramatic genres that have been discarded by serious adult playwrights to become children's artistic forms in the late nineteenth century. Ironically, these devalued theatrical genres became the very basis for the emergence of an experimental movement in American children's, a movement that peaked in 1970s. A true avant-garde spirit in children's theatre thus bloomed in the United States with children's playwrights who developed new styles drawn from commedia dell'arte techniques, absurdist dialogue and grotesque farce.

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