Teenager has hand in Punch and Judy's future

A young Punch and Judy performer is one of the "professors" bringing less violent adaptations of the traditional show to life across Dorset beaches.

When he first saw the puppet show as a two-year-old, William Vaughan, who lives near Shaftesbury, said he was "just falling in love with it".

Now at 16, he now belongs to the Punch and Judy Fellowship and is currently performing the show across the county's beaches.

He said audiences had been "fantastic" and they felt "more comfortable watching it".

Punch and his wife Judy have been "agents of chaos and comedy" since the 17th Century.

The show was first mentioned in the diary of English writer Samuel Pepys on 9 May 1662, where he writes that he enjoyed "an Italian puppet play that is within the rayles there, which is very pretty, the best that ever I saw."

William saw it for the first time during its 350th birthday celebrations in Weymouth in 2012, performed by professor, as the puppeteers are known, Mark Poulton.

"I thought it was actual people, not puppets, and then a year later, I saw it again at a village fete.

"I said, 'I'm just gonna do it', and it just grew from there."

Punch and Judy shows have proven controversial in recent years over fears that the production's use of slapstick violence trivialises domestic abuse.

William said in his show, "along with many others now", Judy "doesn't really get hit at all".

"The shows are a lot more pantomime than they were, there's a lot more audience interaction and loads of witty jokes that it's just a really funny thing for everyone to experience."

He said some visitors had told him it was a "very different to how it was when I was younger".

"But they feel more comfortable watching it because they're not put in a situation where they're watching violence happen on stage in front of children."

Having just done his GCSEs, William decided to put on the shows on the beach, which he said was "really rewarding in the end" and the audiences had been "fantastic".

"I'd still love to be going to the beach and make it maybe a permanent spot for the next few years."

William said it would be "really nice to bring it back" as "seaside shows are fading away".

"I might go into theatre. I'm now a member of the National Youth Theatre as well, so let's see what happens."