Resource contributed by: Bread and Puppet Theater

Peter Schumann, The Radicality of the Puppet Theater (St Johnsbury: Troll Press, c1990).

“I wrote this essay at the request of Irina Uvarova and Viktor Novatsky for a brand-newborn Russian puppetry magazine, during Bread and Puppet Theater’s first tour to Siberia, in May, 1990, between rehearsals in Tomsk, Novii Vasyugan and Abakan, while being overwhelmed by totally new impressions. Naturally, my observations and conclusions are from a distinctly Western perspective. But even though puppet theater in Communist countries has, until now, been an official branch of the government-sponsored culture, the malaise of puppet theater, as well as its background and future possibilities, are essentially the same in both worlds. When the polemics don’t apply, they may serve as a warning for what could be in store as an inevitable by-product of cultural liberation.”

— Peter Schumann