Water puppetry, the special art of the northern delta, was brought to the southern island by the Institute for Culture and Literature of Vietnam and the island’s authorities. Dr. Bui Quang Thang from the Institute for Culture and Literature of Vietnam briefly talked about this project.

Original water puppetry has been brought to the central region and HCM City by some tourism centres. Was this project carried out the same way?

We tried to deal with that weak point, firstly with the music. Northern water puppetry is always accompanied by cheo music. Southern people don’t understand cheo music. So we chose music pieces which are both appropriate to the tastes of southern people and to the rhythm of puppetry extracts.

We also created puppetry items that describe legends of Ca Ong (Whale), the deity of fishermen from the central region to the south. These are special plays of the water puppetry troupe of Phu Quoc Island, which make water puppetry closer to the local people.

What are the difficulties and advantages of this project?

We almost didn’t face any difficulty. The local authorities enthusiastically assisted us. After the first show of the troupe, the Chairman of Phu Quoc District promised to build a water puppetry theatre.

On this occasion, I would like to thank artisan Dao Minh Tuan (Minh Tan water puppetry troupe in Vinh Bao, Hai Phong) and puppeteers. In only a month of practice, they created a very good show.

VietNamNet/TP