This slapstick puppet show has been around since 1662, but Australia’s favourite ‘professor’ keeps the famous husband-and-wife team alive in the 21st century 

How did you get into puppeteering? 
I started in 1994 when I was running a medieval festival and I discovered that there was no one left in South Australia performing Punch and Judy. As I had a lot of theatre experience I thought it would be an easy matter to get together a Punch and Judy puppet show. How wrong I was. It was difficult. I based the show on my own childhood memories and trips to the library. Then I finally got a few films with snippets of shows. The voice of Mr Punch took me two years to learn and about five years to master.

How do you keep puppetry fresh and relevant in the digital age? Any chance of a PS3 or Nintendo Wii version?
I try to present a traditional show so people get an idea of what puppetry used to be like, but of course I add contemporary references and jokes from TV shows, the news and slang. Additionally, I use a musician with many of my shows who accompanies me on … a laptop providing drums, accordions, horses galloping, tubas and various sound effects. 

Punch is described as a psychotic wife beater. Why do the kids still love it? 
[The puppet] is very rough and tumble. There is a method to his madness and like many puppet shows, it is only reflecting the world of humans back to kids. If humans were better behaved, so would puppets. To be fair, Punch can be aggressive, but those who criticise him for his violence don’t understand the context of the show and certainly do not have a sense of humour. At the end of the show I often ask the kids, ‘Was Mr Punch naughty?’ ‘Yes!’ they say. ‘Did you like him?’ ‘Yes!’ they cry. I usually have a big queue of kids at the end of each show who want to meet him, give him a high-five and get up close to have a look. They are fascinated with him. Of course, the four-year-olds are angry that he misbehaves, five-year-olds want to tell him off, the six-year-olds worship him and seven-year-olds and upwards think it is a big joke. Yes, the kids love it. Sometimes they make so much noise Judy has to tell them to be quiet.

Have you ever had overexcited little ones try to swing a punch at Punch? 
Yes, occasionally at the end of the show they want to let Mr Punch know how they feel. I let them give him a high-five but discourage grabbing or hitting puppets. Sometimes there is a lot of interaction, but Punch performers are used to this and we have ways of calming things down or revving up the show. I love the way kids respond to Mr Punch – they are very astute. 

I hear there is an adult version. Is it a bit saucy? Does Punch get it on with Judy, or does Judy get Punch arrested and run off with the milkman? 
Yes, there are many versions. During the 20th century, Punch and Judy became popular at the beach and at kids’ parties and garden fetes. In the process it became regarded as a kids’ show. We have revived the traditions of Punch from when it was performed in the streets, largely to an adult audience. In one of my versions Punch and Judy do get to do some ‘horizontal folk-dancing’ – which is how they got the baby in the first place. But it all has to be a bit silly, so the adult version also has ghosts, hang-men and devils. 

Do you get jealous of the puppets stealing the limelight all the time? 
Not at all. Even though I am an actor and musician, I feel that as a puppeteer my job is to give the puppets their time on-stage. I like being hidden from view. The best performances are when I forget about myself and it feels like the puppets are doing the performing.