Snuff Puppets

Snuff Puppets is an Australian puppet theatre company. Founded in 1992, they combine elements of puppetry, live music,[1] visual and physical theatre to discuss taboo topics and make political satire.[2]

Snuff Puppet Skullies from Scarey

History

Snuff Puppets originated in Canberra as part of Splinters Theatre of Spectacle.[3] They moved to a warehouse in the industrial working-class suburb of Footscray in Melbourne in 1992, and are now based in the historic Footscray Drill Hall. Snuff Puppets founding members were Pauline Cady, Simon Terrill, and the current artistic director Andy Freer.[4]

The company tours with indoor and outdoor shows and roaming acts, which they refer to as interventions because of their interations with traffic and shoppers.

The company has participated in political rallies in support for climate justice, world peace, third world debt relief, gay rights, Aboriginal civil rights and asylum seekers.

Snuff Puppets have toured over 25 countries, including New Zealand, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, India, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand, Singapore, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, England, France, Netherlands, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Romania and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They have held workshops in Australia, Denmark, England, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Netherlands, Singapore, Thailand, Brazil and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The troupe won the Spirit of the Fringe award from Melbourne Fringe and the Adelaide Fringe 2006 Circus / Physical Theatre Award.

The Victorian State Government and Maribyrnong City Council have supported Snuff Puppets with annual Arts Funding.[5]

Response

Realtime Magazine wrote that Snuff Puppets have a "commitment to pushing bad taste to its extreme".

In 2015, Snuff Puppet's promotional video for the installation "Everybody"[6] went viral; copies of the video have been reported as being viewed nearly 1 billion times.[7]

Works in repertoire
Snuff Puppet in Footscray

Shows
  • A Cruel Life
  • Circus Ole - with acrobat
  • The Dancing Cow Show
  • Everybody - Premiered Melbourne November 2012
  • Everybody / Installation - Premiered Melbourne February 2015
  • Forest In The Night
  • Nyet Nyet's Picnic - with Australian Indigenous Artists
  • Snuff Clubb
  • Snuff Party
  • Scarey
  • Wedhus Gembel - with Padepokan Seni from Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Workshops
  • People's Puppet Projects
  • Kidsnuff
  • Snuff Skool - Premiered Hong Kong 2014

Roaming acts
  • Bunyips - with Australian Indigenous Artists
  • The Boom Family
  • Cows and Butcher/Cowboy
  • Giant Crayfish- with the Bob Brown Foundation
  • Elephant
  • Human Body Parts
  • Rhinocerus
  • Seagulls
  • Skullies
  • Snail

References
  1. "Finalists – Snuff Puppet Band". Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
  2. "Home". Snuffpuppets.com.
  3. "RealTime Arts - Magazine - issue 50 - Snuff Puppets rule!". Raltimearts.net.
  4. "Andy Freer". Snuffpuppets.com.
  6. Snuff Puppets - Everybody - Giant Human Puppet on YouTube
  7. "Is this the weirdest clip on the internet? Viral video has almost a BILLION views". Dailystar.co.uk. 12 August 2016.
37.7986647°S 144.8879336°E / -37.7986647; 144.8879336
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.