Martin-Powell

Biography

Martin Powell, (fl. 1709–1720; d. 1729) was an Irish master puppeteer and puppet show impresario, who put on a repertoire of satirical and parodical marionette shows that invariably featured the Punch character. He drew audiences first at provincial towns such as Bath, then moving his venue to London. His theatre (dubbed "Punch's Opera" or "Punch's Theatre") established itself in early 1710 at its first location, at the north end of St. Martin's Street intersected by Litchfield St., not quite in Covent Garden. But by 1711 he relocated the theatre to the galleries of Covent Garden, at Little Piazza, opposite St. Paul's Church. He has been credited with establishing the stock form of the Punch and Judy plays. Charles Magnin, the learned author of the Histoire des Marionnettes en Europe, calls the years of Powell's pre-eminence "the golden age of marionettes in England." It has been commented "Powell is described as a deformed cripple but his powers of satire were considerable," to the extent that the ministry recruited Powell to lampoon the French prophets to diminish their influence among the populace. He not only narrated (spoke the lengthy prologues), with a wand in hand, but was a puppeteer himself, and he is thought to have built his own puppet figures and written the plays himself. A 20th-century scholar assesses the period of Powell's prominent activity to be 1709–1720, the popularity of his puppetry having waned in the latter years, "his son briefly carried on the tradition in the [1720s]", and he died 1729.

Bio from Wikipedia