Punch and Judy with an extending neck (the "Courtier"), and a monkey. A live Dog Toby was once a regular featured novelty routine, sitting on the playboard and performing 'with' the puppets. Glyn Edwards has likened the story of Punch and Judy to the story of Cinderella. He points out that there are parts of the Cinderella story which everyone knows, namely the cruel step sisters, the invitation to the ball, the handsome prince, the fairy godmother, Cinderella's dress turning to rags at midnight, the glass slipper left behind, the prince searching for its owner, and the happy ending. None of these elements
Punch and Judy into something akin to a primitive version of "The Simpsons", in which a bizarre family is used as a vehicle for grotesque visual comedy and a sideways look at contemporary society. An awareness of the prevalence of domestic abuse, and how Punch and Judy could be seen to make light of this, threatened Punch and Judy performances in the UK and other English-speaking countries for a time, but the show is having one of its cyclical recurrences and can now be seen in England, Wales, and Ireland—and also in Canada, the United States, the Caribbean and Puerto Rico, Australia, New