![]() ![]() The audience comprised mostly adult foreign tourists, but some children too. The ticket cost 100 000 dongs, about 5 USD. I still happily bought it as it was my only chance to watch such a performance on that trip. When it was my turn in the short line at the ticket office, I was told they only had a few tickets left for the last performance of the day, at 8 p.m. I went to buy a ticket first thing in the morning on the day of the show. I had an opportunity to watch a show at the Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre in Hanoi. The world-famous Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre Water puppetry is a popular form of entertainment nowadays too, especially for local children and foreigners discovering Vietnamese folk culture. A water puppet show typically depicts Vietnamese day-to-day rural life along with important historical events and ancient legends. While puppets move around, directed by puppeteers standing waist-deep in the water behind the stage, singers tell their stories in songs. It also conceals puppet strings and puppeteer movements, improves musical and vocal acoustics, and provides a shimmering lighting effect.Įach water puppet is hand-carved and given five layers of lacquer paint to make it waterproof and add vibrant colours to the performance. Water is both the stage and a symbolic link to the rice harvest at water puppetry shows. Villagers in the delta of the Red River and in other rice-growing regions of Northern Vietnam staged water puppet performances at religious and end-of-harvest festivals, and on other important occasions. Many of the skits, especially those involving the tales of day-to-day living, often have a humorous twist.Vietnamese water puppetry is a unique folk art practiced since the 11th century. Legends and national history are also told through short skits. Stories of the harvest, of fishing and of festivals are highlighted. It tells of day-to-day living in rural Vietnam and Vietnamese folk tales that are told by grandparents to their grandchildren. The theme of the skits is rural and has a strong reference to Vietnamese folklore. Spotlights and colorful flags adorn the stage and create a festive atmosphere. The puppets enter from either side of the stage, or emerge from the murky depths of the water. The musicians and the puppets interact during performance the musicians may yell a word of warning to a puppet in danger or a word of encouragement to a puppet in need. Singers of chèo (a form of opera originating in north Vietnam) sing songs which tell the story being acted out by the puppets. ![]() The bamboo flute's clear, simple notes may accompany royalty while the drums and cymbals may loudly announce a fire-breathing dragon's entrance. ![]() The instrumentation includes vocals, drums, wooden bells, cymbals, horns, đàn bầu (monochord), gongs, and bamboo flutes. Ī traditional Vietnamese orchestra provides background music accompaniment. It also hides the puppet strings and puppeteer movements, improves the musical and vocal acoustics, and provides a shimmering lighting effect. The water acts as the stage for the puppets, and as a symbolic link to the rice harvest. The original water puppet festivals were literally held inside a rice paddy, with a pagoda built on top to hide the puppeteers who stand in the waist-deep water. Rice, the main staple of the Vietnamese diet, is usually grown in paddy fields. The puppets are carved out of wood and often weigh up to 15 kg. ![]() Up to 8 puppeteers stand behind a split-bamboo screen, decorated to resemble a temple facade, and control the puppets using long bamboo rods and string mechanism hidden beneath the water surface. Performance today occurs on one of three venues-on traditional ponds in villages where a staging area has been set up, on portable tanks built for traveling performers, or in a specialized building where a pool stage has been constructed. Modern water puppetry is performed in a pool of water 4 meters square with the water surface being the stage. The players were presenting themselves at the end of the show. A water puppet theater show in Hanoi, Vietnam. ![]()
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