A show which is causing much amusement in London is the exhibition in Leicester Square of the British Puppet and Model Theatre Guild. On a little stage at one side puppet plays are given, some comedies, some melodramas; and on the other side is an array of famous puppets from many countries. I did not know before that our own Punch, that r outrageon: yet somehow pathetic bully, has his exact counterpart in many lands, under different names. Guignol, Kasperl, Tchantchi, Kara-suez There must be something basi-y human about him as there is about those centuries-old figures Harlequin and Columbine.
Some years ago it seemed as if Punch and Judy were doomed to disappear from England. Then a small band of enthusiasts started the British Puppet and Model Theatre Guild and from a membership of only six, it now has over 600. Quite a large literature of puppet plays is being amassed and the skill shown in mani-plating the little figures is really extraordin Many children are adept at making puppets and model theatres. and even at writing plays for them. On the Continent there is an enormous league of puppeteer: known as Unime, or Union International des Marionettes, Two French exhibitors are in the show in Leicester Square. They brought with them one doll named "La Flour," who is so popular in her native Amiens that all the children came round to the station to see her off to England.
But the majority of the British Guild are grown-ups. serious minded people, who discern deep psychological significance in puppets. The next thing will be that Epstein will design a puppet show and then the Guild will really have arrived.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.