November 17th, 2006
The Pastoral Art
Water puppet performance of Thang Long Water Puppetry Theatre always attracting a lot of foreign visitors
My dear fellow-countrymen, do I have to introduce myself when coming here?” This is the greeting of buffoon character Teu, who enters onto the water stage from the tormentor to the beat of drums and exciting rhythms of percussion music, starting a water puppet play.
Originating from effigies made to keep birds or mice from destroying crops plus their habits of wet rice cultivation, farmers created the art of water puppetry. The water surface of lakes or ponds serves as the stage while spectators sit at
Puppets made of wood
the water’s edge. The puppeteers are both male and female standing waist-deep in the water behind the stage’s curtain to manipulate the puppets, making them move and even dance on the stage. The water not only helps hide the puppeteers and the puppets’ strings but also creates a trembling stage full of reflection. Every puppet is a piece of real folk sculpture. They are made from wood and painted with waterproof lacquer.
Water puppet performance always attracts a lot of foreign visitors
Water puppet plays are stories which are attached closely to the farmers’ work in the field, such as ploughing, harrowing, rice planting, buffalo- and duck- tending, fish catching or folk games of swinging, singing to celebrate bumper crops, etc. A repertoire of traditional water puppet usually includes Teu dance, buffalo fighting, duck tending and chess playing. In the past, the art developed mainly in the Red River Delta with famous water puppetry troupes in the villages of Nguyen, Dong Cac (Thai Binh), Dao Thuc (Dong Anh, Hanoi), Nam Truc (Nam Dinh), Vinh Bao (Hai Phong) and Thach That (Ha Tay).
A rehearsal of Thang Long Water Puppetry Theatre.
However, each troupe has its unique repertoires to attract spectators. For example, the water puppet troupe of Nguyen Village has the secret of setting off firecrackers in the water and a fire spiting dragon. The show in Dao Thuc Village can make puppets jump up from the water surface or jump to the buffalo’s back by a system of a bicycle chain and freewheel. Notably, the water puppetry troupe of Nguyen Village (Thai Binh) has performed seven times in Italy, France and German and they always win the applause from their international friends.
Puppets made of wood
For different reasons, the art has been seen rarely in rural areas. However, the modern stages of the Central Water Puppetry Theatre and Thang Long Water Puppetry Theatre or the open-air stage of the Vietnam Ethnology Museum have attracted a large number of audiences, especially foreign visitors.
Recently, young artisan Phan Thanh Lien in Nam Truc, Nam Dinh Province, has created a small water puppet stage with hard covers which can be assembled easily while water is contained in a nylon barrel.
Making water puppets
When coming to the performing place, he only needs to assemble the stage, add water, and then turn on the radio. With his unique work, titled “small stage bringing about a high efficiency”, he performed successfully in Italy and is highly appreciated by his audiences.
With its great values, the water puppetry art of Vietnam, which has been closely attached to the wet rice civilization, is worthy to be an intangible cultural heritage of the country.
Source: VNP
Story by Mai Phung - Photos by Cong Hoan