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Unique Vietnamese art form sends foreign audiences wild

Published: 26/01/2009 05:00

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Lookatvietnam – The power of Vietnamese water puppetry performances to enthrall and delight home-grown audiences is well-documented. However, watching a water puppet show is also now considered one of the ‘must-dos’ for foreign visitors to Hanoi.

After taking in her first water puppet show, Esther Broders, a reporter from Germany’s Deutsche Welle radio said “I have never seen such a thing like that”. Considering herself a fan of Vietnamese water puppetry, Broders said she used to watch it on TV when she was young. Although she did not understand much about the artform, she felt very excited whenever it came on.

Once she had learnt about the art from a friend, she decided to visit Vietnam to witness a live show and write about it.

“It can’t be compared to other types of puppetry that I’ve seen in Germany . Water makes the puppets impressive. It seems that the puppets have no gravity, drifting and bobbing in the water, just like real people,” Broders said about this unique form of entertainment that is preserved in only in Vietnam.

Vietnamese water puppetry is different to other forms of marionette art. The most obvious difference is that it is enacted on water, and the audiences do not know what is taking place below the surface of the water.

According to Broders, the control that the puppeteers have and the way they combine the movements of their marionettes is “perfect.” There is also a harmony between the performance and music, which engender strong feelings in the audience. “It seems that the two patterns belong to each other,” she remarked.

According to Director of the National Puppetry Theatre Vuong Duy Bien, the ways in which the puppets are controlled depend on the water’s surface tension and, of course, the consummate skills of the artists, which have often been finely-honed through years of practice.

The most decisive factor behind the fluid movements and gestures of the puppets is the type of wood that they are made from, which must be light, flexible and durable, he said.

This unique artform originated in the Hong (Red) River Delta during the 10th century. Farmers in the region devised a form of entertainment that made use of local natural resources. In ancient times, ponds and rice paddies provided the stages for these impromptu shows.

The performances take place in a chest-deep pool of water, with the water’s surface acting as the stage. The puppeteers stand in the water behind a curtained backdrop. Water puppets bring a touch of wry humour to scenes of farming, fishing, festival events, and traditional children’s games such as marbles and coin-tossing. As well as village life, other scenes depict legends and important episodes from the nation’s rich history.

Englishman David Keagan, who has visited Vietnam for the first time, expressed his admiration and surprise when watching water puppetry performance.

“I am so curious to know how the artists control the puppets. I stood behind the curtains and saw how. I found it so great. It’s really a mixture of dexterity and creativity,” the art student coming from London exclaimed.

The Vietnamese unique artform is not only attractive to adults but also children.

A retired Japanese teacher, Kato Masami, and his grandchildren visited Vietnam twice. “My little children were very excited when seeing colourful puppets performing in the water, especially the swimming fishes and frogs or the dragons breathing fire” he said.

The National Puppetry Theatre continually strives to offer audiences performances filled to the brim with creativity. The combination of traditional art and installation art in a drama, entitled “The Countryside’s Soul,” which bagged the gold medal at the first international marionette festival in Hanoi last year is a vivid example.

“We are doing our best to bring Vietnamese water puppetry closer to foreigners,” Director Bien said.

(Source: VNA)

Provide by Vietnam Travel

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