'A Tragic Comedy or Comical Tragedy' was the title of the first published Punch and Judy Show script of 1827, written by journalist John Payne Collier and illustrated by George Cruikshank. Here Yeadon investigates the dual origins of this theatre, the stock characters ( particularly the Zanni ) of the Italian Renaissance comic theatre, the Commedia dell' Arte and the English Mystery Plays. Yeadon's interest in theatre harks back to the beginnings of drama itself.

Yeadon used Commedia dell' Arte masks he bought in Florence which include the avaricious, pompous and mean Pantelone and a mask of the most famous Zanni, Pulcinella. Masking liberated his performers, bringing out the exaggerated postures - an improvisation within the confines of the stage setting, as in the Commedia della Arte, much was improvised by the performers themselves. The photographs are not set tableaux but performances documented. In this drama Yeadon was director, choreographer, photographer, printmaker and naked performer.

This work affirms Yeadon's contemporary influences such as the films of Derek Jarman and Peter Greenaway, photographers Joel Witkin, Jean-Marc Pouveur and Cindy Sherman and the theatre works of Jarry, Brecht, Dario Fo and Robert Wilson.

1996 - 1997