The puppet shows bringing storytelling and solace to bomb shelters in Ukraine

By Beth Timmins, Lecturer in Anthropology, School of Archaeology, University of Oxford

As war threatens to erase everyday life in Ukraine, artists have turned to puppetry, one of the oldest forms of storytelling. Light enough to travel, intimate enough to gather a crowd and able to capture the attention of children, puppet shows have become resilient tools of resistance, support and relief for the people of a country at war.

Contemporary Ukrainian puppetry is part of a long tradition, from the 16th-century travelling folk theatre known as vertep, to the establishment of theatres in Kyiv and Odesa…

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