Snuff Puppets is an Australian puppet theatre company. Founded in 1992, they combine elements of puppetry, live music, visual, and physical theatre to discuss taboo topics and make political satire.
History
Snuff Puppets originated in Canberra as part of
Splinters Theatre of Spectacle. They moved to a warehouse in the suburb of
Footscray in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
in 1992, and are now based in the historic Footscray Drill Hall. Snuff Puppets was founded by Pauline Cady, Simon Terrill, and the current artistic director Andy Freer. Nick Wilson became Co-Artistic Director in 2023.
Since 1992, Snuff Puppets have roamed the streets, performed hundreds of stages and festival shows, and turned thousands of heads at protests and political rallies.
Snuff Puppets have embarked on more than 40 international tours, with performances in countries including; Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Denmark, Democratic Republic of the Congo, England, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, People’s Republic of China, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Romania, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan & Thailand.
They have conducted over 40 giant ''People's Puppet Project'' community workshops worldwide.
The Victorian State Government and Maribyrnong City Council have supported Snuff Puppets with annual Arts Funding.
Crumpler bags are a decades long supporter of Snuff Puppets tours. Snuff Puppets is a registered charity.
Responses
In 2015, Snuff Puppet's promotional video for "Everybody" went viral; copies of the video have been reported as being viewed nearly 1 billion times.
Snuff Puppets Youtube channel has over 550,000 subscribers and 330 million viral video views.
Realtime Magazine wrote the Snuff Puppets have a "commitment to pushing bad taste to its extreme".
Works from repertoire
Shows
* Fool Skool
* Fat For A Good Table
* Travelling Truck Show
* Scarey
* Forest In The Night
* Dancing Cow Show
* Browne Brothers
* A Cruel Life
* Twin Towers Show
* Boom Town - ''with
Back to Back Theatre''
* Circus Ole - ''with acrobat''
* Nyet Nyet's Picnic - ''with Australian Indigenous Artists''
* Snuff Clubb
* Wedhus Gembel - ''with Padepokan Seni, Yogyakarta, Indonesia''
* Snuff Party
* Everybody
* Punch Agathe - ''with Stefanie Oberhoff & Espace Masolo, Kinshasa''
* Heart
* Swamp
* Cochlea
Workshops
* People's Puppet Projects - ''Community development workshops''
* Kidsnuff - ''Performance making workshops''
* Snuff Skool - ''Puppeteering workshops''
* Snuff Labb - ''Experimental theatre making workshops''
Roaming acts
* Skullies
* The Boom Family
* Cows & Butcher
* Bunyips - ''with Australian Indigenous Artists''
* Elephant
* Seagulls
* Snail
* Rhinoceros
* Human Body Parts
* Giant Crayfish ''- with the Bob Brown Foundation''
* Beasts Of Oz
* Human Body Organs
References
External links
Snuff Puppets
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Puppet troupes
Theatre companies in Australia
Puppetry in Australia
Arts in Melbourne