Guide to Hanoi water puppet theatre
By Christina Reed,
Water puppets display traditional rural scenes
No trip to Hanoi is complete without a visit to a water puppet performance. Among the oldest performance display in Vietnam, this ancient art form is enchanting for children and adults alike.
Unique to northern Vietnam, water puppetry is a popular form of entertainment steeped in rural Vietnamese culture. Not only do the water puppets entertain and showcase Vietnamese life to foreign tourists, but the storylines teach lessons which offer a unique way to remind contemporary Vietnamese audiences of traditional values and morals that have been passed down from their ancestors. Water puppet theatre was created more than a century ago in the farming villages around the Red River Delta.
History tells the tale of farmers who made their living tending to flooded rice paddies each day. Believing, as rural communities did, that the spirits controlled many aspects of their life, they created the water puppets, not only as a form of entertainment but a way to appease the spirits and offer thanks for the land and the rains that provided them with a bountiful harvest. More on Hanoi attractions.
Each year, the Red River Delta would burst its banks after heavy rains. The farmers discovered that the flooded lands created a perfect stage for water puppetry, as the murky depths would conceal the puppets’ strings and mechanisms. As water puppets became more popular, competition became rife between farmers across several villages and soon skilled groups of puppeteers formed, secretive regarding the particulars of their own performances.
As the flooded banks of the Red River Delta subsided, villagers created water puppet theatres in local lakes and ponds, and before long the form of entertainment was so widespread that that each village in the Delta had its own water puppet theatre. This is still true today, as almost every province in Northern Vietnam has its own professional water puppet troupe, the most famous and successful being the Thang Long Puppetry Theatre in Hanoi. Situated next to well-known Hoan Kiem Lake, the theatre attracts up to 1,500 tourists each day, not only foreigners but also those who travel from Southern Vietnam to marvel at this ancient art form.
Water puppet theatres are elaborately decorated
Puppeteers suffer the wet and cold as they perform waist deep in water, using the water surface as a stage as they stand hidden behind a curtain. They control their wooden puppets with bamboo rods and complex string mechanisms concealed beneath the surface. Traditionally, all shows take place inside a floating communal house, as spotlights and colourful flags provide a backdrop for lively performances. More on Hanoi hospitality.
The puppets themselves are hand-crafted from special wood which is light, durable and resistant to water damage and bugs. The characters appear from the sides of the stage, or rise up from beneath the murky waters as an orchestra plays music to accompany their dramatic entrance. The orchestra plays traditional Vietnamese folk music and is made up of an assembly of drums, cymbals, wooden bells, flutes, horns and Chinese violins. Singers accompany the dramatics, telling stories in Cheo – a style of opera – whilst the puppets glide across the stage.
A performance typically consists of 18 short skits which tell ancient legends and tales of national history. Each new skit is introduced to the audience by a pig-tailed bumpkin, affectionately known to the Vietnamese as ‘Teu’. Visual effects such as waves, splashes and fire crackers add to the mesmerising performance, while musicians give the whole display an almost pantomime-like feel by shouting words of warning to puppets in danger or encouraging a character in need.
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