An all-hands-on-deck show with everything you could pull out of the toybox (and then some!), Sh*tty Puppet Theatre’s “Complete History of America” is a mad dash through our rise as an overly religious, self-assured and patriotic nation to our current authoritarian finish line. It may not be Howard’s Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States, but it pulls no punches about the many ways the USA has acted in its own interest when dealing with other countries, and has left many a corpse behind as there are puppets and ketchup bottles that get sacrificed in this dark comedy. Presented as a loosely formed after school special for adults, our host of hand puppets are led by Mr. Doper, a foul-mouthed clown who is in no way shy about guiding us through America’s bloody past. He’s helped by a host of characters, from an innocent mouse(?) puppet named Bobby, to sock puppet Henry Kissinger, GI Joes embodying different presidents, a T-Rex that represents free market capitalism, and a special cameo appearance by Jesus! The humor came fast and loose, and sometimes seemed as held together as their set: a tablecloth duct-taped to a PVC pipe frame and the continually busy hands of their performers. With a cult energy akin to Rocky Horror, their fans and followers had joyful calls and responses to Mr. Doper, and that enthusiasm carried them through the entire show. While not all the observations were the freshest, and more often low hanging fruit on the vine, this ragtag team of puppets and toys endure not because they are treated with care, but because they have seen some shit, and need to tell you about it.
