The musicians providing voices for the show – who, unlike the puppeteers, can see the puppets and their movements – sometimes shout codewords to warn the puppeteers when a puppet is not where it should be.Īs tradition, it is adorable that Vietnamese water puppet shows are typically performed without English. Great shows of skill include passing objects from puppet to puppet and other coordinated movements which have to be done by instinct rather than sight. Trying to figure out exactly how puppeteers can control the intricate movements blindly is part of the magic of each water puppet show. The puppeteers even form their own dialect and codewords to prevent ones from overhearing talk of a particular technique. The secret of how water puppet shows work has been kept quiet for centuries. Have you ever wondered how puppeteers can control the puppets behind the bamboo screen and still can coordinate smoothly to each other? Performances are accompanied by a Vietnamese orchestra playing traditional music using wooden bells, drums, bamboo flutes, horns, and cymbals. No more than eight 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. This water pavilion is called “Thủy đình” (“thủy” means nước, “đình” is a communal house) is where performance carries out. This special stage requires a chest-deep pool of water. Performance today occurs on one of three venues: 1 – on traditional ponds in villages where a staging area can be set up, 2 – on portable tanks built for traveling performers, or 3 – in a specialized building where a pool stage can be constructed. He sometimes acts as a narrator, sometimes as a commentator on social realities, politics, especially officials’ corruption. He is very talkative and optimistic like any typical northern farmer. His appearance is of a cheerful boy who often wears simple loincloth, sometimes accompanied by a simple open vest. “Tễu” means “laugh” in ancient Vietnamese. Most of the puppets look cheerful and awash in vivid colors to emphasize their own characters.įor example, “Chú Tễu” is a recurrent and the most notable character in water puppetry. The puppets are carved out of fig wood and then lacquered. Please don’t expect realistic movements or intricate costumes found at puppet shows in other parts of Asia. Shows at this modern theater are performed in a pool of water as the stage for the puppets. Until now, the water puppet shows haven’t changed significantly from the old days. That’s an intriguing adventure from the rice field to the citadel stages. The water puppet shows gradually progressed as an entertaining activity for the royals. The easy formation enhanced the widespread development of the art form. Originally, simple stages were constructed around flooded rice paddies, which were available in most of ancient villages & towns. The wet rice civilization of Northern Vietnam was believed to be the cradle of nurturing this traditional art form.īeing born as a communal entertainment performance during harvest time for farmers, the very first Vietnamese puppet shows weren’t just for the entertainment of villagers, but were thought to keep the spirits amused enough to stay away from mischief. Water puppetry is a form of folk arts originating in the Red River Delta in the North of Vietnam, dating back in the 11th century.
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