Bread & Puppet Theater will perform for one night only on Saturday, Oct. 22, 7 p.m. at the Champlain Valley Unitarian Society, 2 Duane Court in Middlebury, with a brand new giant puppet show inspired by the forthcoming elections.
“The Underneath the Above Show #1” is a new work written and directed by Bread and Puppet founder Peter Schumann. It takes place in a distant, mountainous country much different from ours, where successive unsuccessful cardboard kings reign with fleeting promise over an over-life-size, technicolor cardboard electorate operated by a hardhat workforce prone to coffee breaks, until the eternally-hopeful population installs a jolly old god in the highest office of the land. It’s a hilarious, timely antidote to the election-themed entertainment on TV. And, with its raucous energy and bright palette, it makes a great fall hurrah.
Schumann says that “The Underneath the Above Show #1” is “a puppet show contribution to the ongoing U.S. presidential election campaign. In our show the normally slightly overweight three-dimensional electorate is reduced to its proper election year cardboard two-dimensionality. Hardhat workers help to demonstrate the elementary dissatisfaction of this cardboard electorate and its desire for a new king who will promote life, health, home, and general protection from evil.”
After the performance Bread and Puppet will serve its famous free sourdough rye bread with aioli to the public, and Bread and Puppet’s “Cheap Art”? books, posters, postcards, pamphlets and banners from the Bread and Puppet Press ? will be for sale. The Bread and Puppet Fiddle Band will welcome the public.
This show is appropriate for all ages, but contains some loud noises. Tickets are $10 suggested donation, but no one will be turned away.
For more info, visit www.breadandpuppet.org.