Bread and Puppet Theater performed its “Apocalypse Defiance Circus” on Cambridge Common on Sept. 4 as part of its national tour. The performance was supported by Cambridge Arts.

The show offers dancing horses and rats and trees, slapstick comedy, singing, a live band, satire, and the theater’s iconic giant puppets. It calls for police reform and reparations for Haiti. It accuses Hannaford of being unfair to farm workers. It objects to Israeli bombing of Palestinians in Gaza. It honors Archbishop Oscar Romero who was murderd in 1980 in El Salvador. Nurses battle grim reapers in an act critiquing lack of safety in hospitals during covid. In one satirical act, after the U.S. Supreme Court bars circuses (by a 6 to 3 vote), the Bread and Puppet Circus responds with ferocious tigers that devour the radical right-wing justices.

As part of its fall cross country tour, Bread and Puppet is scheduled to perform the Circus at the Emery Community Arts Center at the University of Maine at Farmington on Friday, Sept. 9, at 8 p.m.; at Fort Allen Park in Portland, Maine, on Saturday, Sept. 10, at 4 p.m.; and at Park Hill Orchard in Easthampton, Massachusetts, on Sunday, Sept. 11, at 6 p.m. The tour travels all the way to Oregon and back through December 2022.


If this is the kind of coverage of arts, cultures and activisms you appreciate, please support Wonderland by contributing to Wonderland on Patreon. And sign up for our free, occasional newsletter so that you don’t miss any of our reporting. (All content ©Greg Cook 2022 or the respective creators.)


Bread and Puppet Theater performs its “Apocalypse Defiance Circus” on Cambridge Common, Sept. 4, 2022. (© Greg Cook photo)
Bread and Puppet Theater performs its “Apocalypse Defiance Circus” on Cambridge Common, Sept. 4, 2022. (© Greg Cook photo)
Bread and Puppet Theater performs its “Apocalypse Defiance Circus” on Cambridge Common, Sept. 4, 2022. (© Greg Cook photo)
Bread and Puppet Theater performs its “Apocalypse Defiance Circus” on Cambridge Common, Sept. 4, 2022. (© Greg Cook photo)
Bread and Puppet Theater performs its “Apocalypse Defiance Circus” on Cambridge Common, Sept. 4, 2022. (© Greg Cook photo)
Bread and Puppet Theater performs its “Apocalypse Defiance Circus” on Cambridge Common, Sept. 4, 2022. (© Greg Cook photo)
Bread and Puppet Theater performs its “Apocalypse Defiance Circus” on Cambridge Common, Sept. 4, 2022. (© Greg Cook photo)
Bread and Puppet Theater performs its “Apocalypse Defiance Circus” on Cambridge Common, Sept. 4, 2022. (© Greg Cook photo)
Bread and Puppet Theater performs its “Apocalypse Defiance Circus” on Cambridge Common, Sept. 4, 2022. (© Greg Cook photo)
Bread and Puppet Theater performs its “Apocalypse Defiance Circus” on Cambridge Common, Sept. 4, 2022. (© Greg Cook photo)
Bread and Puppet Theater performs its “Apocalypse Defiance Circus” on Cambridge Common, Sept. 4, 2022. (© Greg Cook photo)
Bread and Puppet Theater performs its “Apocalypse Defiance Circus” on Cambridge Common, Sept. 4, 2022. (© Greg Cook photo)
Bread and Puppet Theater performs its “Apocalypse Defiance Circus” on Cambridge Common, Sept. 4, 2022. (© Greg Cook photo)
Bread and Puppet Theater performs its “Apocalypse Defiance Circus” on Cambridge Common, Sept. 4, 2022. (© Greg Cook photo)
Bread and Puppet Theater performs an act mourning the Russian invasian of Ukraine. From its “Apocalypse Defiance Circus” on Cambridge Common, Sept. 4, 2022. (© Greg Cook photo)
Bread and Puppet Theater performs an act mourning the Russian invasian of Ukraine. From its “Apocalypse Defiance Circus” on Cambridge Common, Sept. 4, 2022. (© Greg Cook photo)
Bread and Puppet Theater performs an act about Israeli attacks on Palestinians in Gaza. From its “Apocalypse Defiance Circus” on Cambridge Common, Sept. 4, 2022. (© Greg Cook photo)
Bread and Puppet Theater performs an act about Israeli attacks on Palestinians in Gaza. From its “Apocalypse Defiance Circus” on Cambridge Common, Sept. 4, 2022. (© Greg Cook photo)
Bread and Puppet Theater performs an act accusing Hannaford of being unfair to farm workers. From its “Apocalypse Defiance Circus” on Cambridge Common, Sept. 4, 2022. (© Greg Cook photo)
Bread and Puppet Theater performs an act accusing Hannaford of being unfair to farm workers. From its “Apocalypse Defiance Circus” on Cambridge Common, Sept. 4, 2022. (© Greg Cook photo)
Bread and Puppet Theater performs an act criticizing poor treatment of farm workers. From its “Apocalypse Defiance Circus” on Cambridge Common, Sept. 4, 2022. (© Greg Cook photo)
Bread and Puppet Theater performs an act criticizing poor treatment of farm workers. From its “Apocalypse Defiance Circus” on Cambridge Common, Sept. 4, 2022. (© Greg Cook photo)
Bread and Puppet Theater performs an act honoring Archbishop Oscar Romero who was murderd in 1980 in El Salvador. From its “Apocalypse Defiance Circus” on Cambridge Common, Sept. 4, 2022. (© Greg Cook photo)
Bread and Puppet Theater performs an act honoring Archbishop Oscar Romero who was murderd in 1980 in El Salvador. From its “Apocalypse Defiance Circus” on Cambridge Common, Sept. 4, 2022. (© Greg Cook photo)
Bread and Puppet Theater performs an act honoring Archbishop Oscar Romero who was murderd in 1980 in El Salvador. From its “Apocalypse Defiance Circus” on Cambridge Common, Sept. 4, 2022. (© Greg Cook photo)
Bread and Puppet Theater performs an act honoring Archbishop Oscar Romero who was murderd in 1980 in El Salvador. From its “Apocalypse Defiance Circus” on Cambridge Common, Sept. 4, 2022. (© Greg Cook photo)
Bread and Puppet Theater performs an act objecting to the radically right-wing U.S. Supreme Court. From its “Apocalypse Defiance Circus” on Cambridge Common, Sept. 4, 2022. (© Greg Cook photo)
Bread and Puppet Theater performs an act objecting to the radically right-wing U.S. Supreme Court. From its “Apocalypse Defiance Circus” on Cambridge Common, Sept. 4, 2022. (© Greg Cook photo)
Bread and Puppet Theater performs an act calling for reparations for Haiti. From its “Apocalypse Defiance Circus” on Cambridge Common, Sept. 4, 2022. (© Greg Cook photo)
Bread and Puppet Theater performs an act calling for reparations for Haiti. From its “Apocalypse Defiance Circus” on Cambridge Common, Sept. 4, 2022. (© Greg Cook photo)
Bread and Puppet Theater performs its “Apocalypse Defiance Circus” on Cambridge Common, Sept. 4, 2022. (© Greg Cook photo)
Bread and Puppet Theater performs its “Apocalypse Defiance Circus” on Cambridge Common, Sept. 4, 2022. (© Greg Cook photo)
Bread and Puppet Theater performs its “Apocalypse Defiance Circus” on Cambridge Common, Sept. 4, 2022. (© Greg Cook photo)
Bread and Puppet Theater performs its “Apocalypse Defiance Circus” on Cambridge Common, Sept. 4, 2022. (© Greg Cook photo)
Bread and Puppet Theater performs its “Apocalypse Defiance Circus” on Cambridge Common, Sept. 4, 2022. (© Greg Cook photo)
Bread and Puppet Theater performs its “Apocalypse Defiance Circus” on Cambridge Common, Sept. 4, 2022. (© Greg Cook photo)
Bread and Puppet Theater performs its “Apocalypse Defiance Circus” on Cambridge Common, Sept. 4, 2022. (© Greg Cook photo)
Bread and Puppet Theater performs its “Apocalypse Defiance Circus” on Cambridge Common, Sept. 4, 2022. (© Greg Cook photo)

If this is the kind of coverage of arts, cultures and activisms you appreciate, please support Wonderland by contributing to Wonderland on Patreon. And sign up for our free, occasional newsletter so that you don’t miss any of our reporting. (All content ©Greg Cook 2022 or the respective creators.)


Categories: Theater