Snuff Puppets is an Australian puppet theatre company founded in 1992. They combine elements of puppetry, live music, visual and physical theatre to tackle taboo topics and make political satire.
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History
Snuff Puppets originated in Canberra as part of Splinters Theatre of Spectacle
Splinters Theatre of Spectacle was an Australian Performance Troupe formed in Canberra in 1985 by David Branson, Patrick Troy, Ross Cameron, and John Utans, that was known for large outdoor spectacles. Between 1985 and 1996, Splinters produced mor ...
. They moved to a dusty warehouse in the industrial working-class suburb of Footscray in Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...
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.
The company tour with indoor and outdoor shows and roaming acts. The company refers to its roaming acts as interventions, where they play with traffic and shoppers.
The company takes direct action on political issues with appearances in political rallies in support for climate justice
Climate justice is a concept that addresses the just division, fair sharing, and equitable distribution of the burdens of climate change and its mitigation and responsibilities to deal with climate change. "Justice", "fairness", and "equity" ar ...
, world peace
World peace, or peace on Earth, is the concept of an ideal state of peace within and among all people and nations on Planet Earth. Different cultures, religions, philosophies, and organizations have varying concepts on how such a state would ...
, third world debt relief, gay rights, Aboriginal civil rights and asylum seekers
An asylum seeker is a person who leaves their country of residence, enters another country and applies for asylum (i.e., international protection) in that other country. An asylum seeker is an immigrant who has been forcibly displaced and ...
.
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.
Local communities have worked with Snuff Puppets with dozens of large-scale workshops undertaken 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
The Adelaide Fringe, formerly Adelaide Fringe Festival, is the world's second-largest annual arts festival (after the Edinburgh Festival Fringe), held in the South Australian capital of Adelaide. Between mid-February and mid-March each year, ...
2006 Circus / Physical Theatre Award.
The Victorian State Government and Maribyrnong City Council support Snuff Puppets with annual Arts Funding.
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" went viral; copies of the video have been reported as being viewed nearly 1 billion times.
Works in repertoire
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 th
Bob Brown Foundation
*''Elephant''
*''Human Body Parts''
*''Rhinocerus''
*''Seagulls''
*''Skullies''
*''Snail''
Footnotes
External links
Snuff Puppets
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Puppet troupes
Theatre companies in Australia
Performing arts in Australia
Arts in Melbourne