Bread and Puppet Theater’s ‘Whatforward Circus’ as photographed by Greg Cook in Glover, Vermont, during the weekend of Aug. 21, 2016. The family-friendly satirical, slapstick show poked at Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, supported Black Lives Matter, lamented troubles in Haiti, celebrated Muhammad Ali and the activist Roman Catholic priest Daniel Berrigan (who each died earlier this year), remembered a murdered Honduran activist, criticized the fossil fuel industry, mocked opposition to the Obama Administration’s transgender bathroom policy, and lamented gun violence.

Bread and Puppet Theater is scheduled to present free outdoor performances of the circus (well, a version of it; they change it each time they perform) in Massachusetts on Cambridge Common, near the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Waterhouse Street (Rain venue: First Church in Cambridge, 11 Garden St.) at 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 4, and at the Bread & Roses Heritage Festival in Lawrence at 4:20 p.m.m Monday Sept. 5.

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Bread and Puppet Theater founder Peter Schumann (with white beard) guides a circus rehearsal, Aug. 20, 2016. (Greg Cook)
Bread and Puppet Theater founder Peter Schumann (with white beard) guides a circus rehearsal, Aug. 20, 2016. (Greg Cook)
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Bread and Puppet Theater founder Peter Schumann (center) oversees a circus rehearsal, Aug. 20, 2016. (Greg Cook)
Bread and Puppet Theater founder Peter Schumann (center) oversees a circus rehearsal, Aug. 20, 2016. (Greg Cook)