With a programme of feel-good events, including pantomime-inspired productions of Punch and Judy, short screenings in the world's smallest movie theatre and a bank holiday lineup to remember, Festival of Summer is set to transform Royal Albert Dock Liverpool this August.
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00:00 Kicking off summer in style, Royal Albert Dog Liverpool is continuing its
00:05 programme of feel-good activities throughout August with its Festival of
00:10 Summer. The visitor attraction are playing host to family-friendly
00:14 performances of Punch and Judy. I think that there's a real sense of British
00:20 comedy culture and I think that it captures this kind of awkward
00:24 interesting character of who we are. I think that for pantomime and Punch and
00:32 Judy it's often a child's first experience of any kind of live
00:35 entertainment. Finding a new home in the Royal Albert Dock, little ones can watch
00:39 the iconic characters in a series of modernised slapstick scenarios whilst
00:44 older viewers revisit nostalgic days on the waterfront. I think that they've got
00:49 some, there's a real intrigue in how it's all working you know because it
00:54 is just, I often get asked by children when I go into schools, "Oh it's just you!"
00:58 or they take great delight in going, "I knew it was you doing the puppets!" and I
01:03 go, "Yeah it was just me!" I think there's something, it's so different to being
01:08 involved with you know on the screen, on the telly. It's not a passive
01:12 entertainment, it's very active and so if a child shouts up something really
01:17 funny I'll react to it because it's, you've got that kind of call and response that
01:21 is super but yeah no I think that there's something about the tiny theatre
01:26 with the curtains and how it all works that even adults think, "How does the
01:31 voice of Mr. Punch work? How are the puppets moving?" you know and how does
01:36 the professor, which is what we call ourselves, a Punch and Judy performer, how
01:40 is the professor seeing what's happening? You know it's all of those kind of the
01:43 mystery behind the art form I suppose. Performing the series of shows
01:48 is puppeteer and chairman of the Punch and Judy Fellowship, Will Cousins. With a
01:52 lifelong passion for preserving the timeless tradition, Will aims to bring a
01:56 fresh approach to storytelling. It's a bit like pantomime Punch and Judy, it's
02:01 one of those Mr. Punch is our national puppet so it's really important that we
02:05 keep him alive. He's been around for 356 years so it's, I think that Punch keeps
02:12 up with the times you know and should keep up with the changes. At the
02:17 heart of everything is laughter and doesn't matter where you are in the
02:20 world or in the UK you know I'm from the south coast and I grew up in the 90s
02:25 watching Punch and Judy on the beach and that's why I'm doing it now so it's you
02:29 know it's really important to keep up with everything and keep
02:33 everybody laughing. Fresh from Glastonbury Festival, Sons Cinema is
02:36 returning to the Anchor Courtyard. Powered by the Sun, the vintage style
02:40 cinema is set to screen free five-minute films, crowned as one of the top 20
02:46 picture houses in the world. It comes complete with an usherette service. With
02:50 one month to fill with family fun, there are free drop-in make-at-tate sessions
02:55 whilst little explorers can take on the seven seas at the Maritime Museum and
02:59 learn about the city's seafaring past with life on board.