The West Pier Trust’s education sessions often include a fun packed show from Britain’s ever popular seaside entertainer, Mr Punch.
An opportunity of a Brighton Beach Punch & Judy is a bonus part of a school visit to the seafront. All the ‘seaside’ history reference materials supplied mention Punch & Judy, but it is only in Brighton that there still exists the opportunity to attend a show within the educational programme itself.
Punch and Judy ‘Professor,’ Glyn Edwards often imitated but never equalled, has been a Punch & Judy performer for over 50 years and has taken his show all over the UK as well as Russia, America, Japan and many other countries.
We asked him how he first got started. ‘My mum and dad were variety performers. My dad later produced pantomimes and seaside summer shows. I first saw Mr Punch under the West Pier in the 1940s and then performed with him myself on Brighton Beach in the 1960s. We’ve been in front of every kind of British audience at venues from Brighton Pier to the Warden’s Lodgings of New College, Oxford and from a travelling funfair in the Midlands to the V&A. I’ve pitched my booth on beaches, village greens, in shopping malls, museums, stately homes, private homes, public houses and public festivals. I was once even dubbed ‘a Punch and Judy Rock Star’ in a review. I was flattered of course, but really I’m just one of his sidekicks along for the ride!’
In 2018, you will find him again hand in glove, outside the West Pier Centre. As well as performing with Mr Punch presiding with his slapstick over a world turned upside down, Glyn will continue hosting school visits to the Centre.
If you are a teacher and would like your school party to come to the West Pier Centre for booked education sessions, please do get in touch with The Fedora Group. We, too look forward to welcoming you to the West Pier Centre. Talks for general interest groups are also available.
