Marionette representing Devil Blekkas, from the Antwerp 'Poesje' theatre

Marionette in the shape of a bearded male figure representing Devil Blekkas, from an Antwerp Poesje theatre.

In the 19th century, various Belgian towns had their own folk puppet theatres. Antwerp had several dozen. The puppets were called poesjenellen after Pulcinella (often called Punchinello or Punch in English), a picaresque figure from the Italian commedia dell’arte.

During the show, the poesjenellen commented on current affairs. They expressed the audience’s feelings, hopes, desires and thoughts. The audience reacted loudly and spontaneously with criticism and encouragement.

Around 1875, the middle classes discovered this form of ‘typical’ popular entertainment. The small theatres skilfully took advantage of this discovery by putting on special shows that reinforced all the clichés about the lower social classes: they excelled at using particularly crude language and improper behaviour.