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The Bread and Puppet Theatre in Nicaragua, 1987

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 January 2009

John Bell
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Extract

PETER SCHUMANN's Bread and Puppet Theatre began 25 years ago as a new way of making modern theatre, and as Schumann sees it, still is. As he recently stated, “there are two aspects to this newness: (1) the proposal for a much bigger, wider space for the arts to exist in than the space that the arts occupy now – a way for painting, music, sculpture, and language to exist together and in response to the questions of the time in which they live; and (2) the puppet theatre aspect: puppet theatre not as a special branch of theatre but as a challenge to theatre, as a concrete proposal for the overcoming of its shortcomings – a liberation from that fixed old schmaltz – a proposal for much bigger form, much more compositional freedom and adventure than an actors' theater can ever come up with.”

Type
Research Article
Information
New Theatre Quarterly , Volume 5 , Issue 17 , February 1989 , pp. 8 - 22
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989

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References

Notes and References

1. Meyerhold, Vsevolod, “The Fairground Booth”, Meyerhold on Theatre, ed. Braun, Edward (London: Eyre Methuen, 1969), p. 121Google Scholar.

2. A recent book on the theatre's work from its beginning into the 1980s is Brecht, Stefan, The Bread and Puppet Theater (two volumes, New York: Methuen, 1988)Google Scholar.

3. Bread and Puppet productions about Latin America include the following, (a) Street shows: The Story of the Mountain Man from Chile (about folksinger Victor Jara, 1973); This Is (about the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1980); Goya (about El Salvador, 1982); The History of Nicaragua (1985); The Story of Ben Linder (1987). (b) Indoor theatre piece: The Door (about Guatemala, 1984). (c) Indoor/outdoor spectacles: The Crucifixion and Resurrection of Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador (1984); Christ Lag in Todesbanden (Bach's Cantata No. 4 staged with a Nicaraguan context, 1985). (d) Large-scale events: Our Domestic Resurrection Circus: “Central American and Liberation Theology” (1984); Our Domestic Resurrection Circus: “Bach and Nicaragua” (1985); Processional for 800 volunteers as part of the “Mobilization for Peace and Justice in Central America and South Africa”, Washington, D.C. (1987). (e) Painting and sculpture exhibits: The Sumpul River Massacre (1981); Liberation Theology Martyrs (1984); Nicaragua!. (1985). On the 1984 Domestic Resurrection Circus and subsequent tour to Nicaragua, see Green, Susan, Bread and Puppet Stories of Struggle and Faith from Central America (Burlington, Vermont: Green Valley Film and Art, 1985)Google Scholar.

4. A Canadian film of this tour is Bread and Puppet Theater: a Song for Nicaragua, dir Levine, Ron and DeCarufel, René, Synchronicity Productions, 1986Google Scholar.

5. Information about MECATE from MECATE, El Arte Campesina en la Revolución Sandinista (San Jose, Costa Rica: Alforja Publicaciones de Educatión Popular, 1982), p. 5–16Google Scholar.

6. Cardenal, Ernesto, The Gospel in Solentiname, trans. Walsh, Donald D. (four volumes, Maryknoll, New York: Orbis, 1982)Google Scholar. An edited version of the above, illustrated with campesino paintings, is The Gospel in Art by the Peasants of Solentiname, ed. Philip, and Scharper, Sally (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis, 1984)Google Scholar.

7. Godoy, Carlos Mejia and Martinez, Pablo, La Misa Campesina Nicaragüense (Managua: Colección Popular Ministerio de Cultura, 1981)Google Scholar.

8. Otro Gallo Nos Canta (MECATE: a New Song), dir. Zurita, Felix, First Run/Icarus Films, 1984Google Scholar.

9. Schumann here refers to the 1984 exhibit entitled ‘“Primitivism” in Twentieth-Century Art’. See “Primitivism” in Twentieth-CenturyArt: Affinity of the Tribal and the Modern, ed. Rubin, William (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1984)Google Scholar.