ASHFIELD — Vermont’s Bread and Puppet Theater is returning to Ashfield for a fourth time with a new show, “Diagonal Life: Theory and Praxis,” that addresses demands required of humans to stay upright, even when they need rest.
The show is set April 24, 7 p.m. at the Ashfield Community Hall, 521 Main St. A donation of $10 to $25 is suggested but not required.
Puppets perform the show diagonally to convey how “marching forward” all the time can deny humans of basic needs like sleep, Josh Krugman said. The performance seeks to portray the “humorous, tragic and bewildering possibilities of diagonality” through song, dance, magic – and puppets.
“We inhabitants of western modernity are no strangers to verticality, from the architecture of our cities, to the ‘ladders of success,’ we’re expected to scale, to the incessant wakefulness required of us, postponing the horizontal pleasures of sleep,” a news release states.
Several current events are addressed during the show, including climate change and the treatment of refugees at the Mexican border. The show also includes speech from 16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, who initiated a worldwide school strike last November.
The puppets are made with cardboard and papier maché in the “exuberant, slapdash expressionist style” of the group’s founder and show director and writer Peter Schumann.
In Krugman’s view, puppets can expand the scope of a performance.
“Puppets allow you to do things that you couldn’t do with bodies,” Krugman said. “For example, humans couldn’t become diagonal and hold a diagonal position … without assistance.”
After the performance, Bread and Puppet will serve its “famous” sourdough rye bread with aioli and sell items from its press including books, posters, postcards, pamphlets and banners.
Reach Grace Bird at gbird@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 280.