Punch and The Fallow Narratives

Dell Arte, a mixed media short produced in 1998 (Stevenson, R), told the story of an apparently decent man who falls into a seemingly mindless, homicidal rage. He is later caught and hung, though his killing continues as he battles and defeats the devil, ascending once more to continue his murderous mayhem. The film plays with the stories of Punch and is illustrated through Victoriana imagery. Two poems written by Brian Fagence spoken across the film explored the interior and exterior of a man becoming Punch, and a soundscape created by Pete Hodges fixed the piece within a nightmare world. It was from this early beginning that The Fallow Narratives was born, a transmedia storytelling project exploring narrative distinction and storytelling stresses created across a variety of narrative media. Each tale tells the story of a fractured character in grief and searching for a sense of self, and each engages with the characters and stories of Punch. Stories told across Fallow (animation), The Pier (comic), Desistance (video game), The Deep Machine (songs), Observance (journal), Dell Arte (mixed media), Stain (music video) and The Burning Quay (novel). This paper will discuss the development of the project, the use of Punch in contemporary media, and the approach to the exploration of the aural signatures across the transmedia properties of The Fallow Narratives, as they combine, collude and interact; considering what this effect has on the development of the story and the relationship between the characters of Punch across the project.