A Show on Water

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Guess what…  We went sky diving!

April fools!  We didn’t!

Instead, we did something else that was really neat.

Imagine… you walk into the dimly lit theater and are surprised by the stage. In place of the, normal platform, there is a large pool of water. You take a look at the program and realize that you are at no ordinary theater, you are at the Thang Long Water Puppet Theater!

Screen Shot 2015-03-22 at 2.38.08 PM
Inside the theater

In ancient Vietnamese puppetry, there are 400 original scenes.  We were able to watch 24 of them. All of the scenes were spectacular and there was even a live band playing for the whole perfomance!

The live band
The live band

It was really hard to pick my top 5 favorites, so I just picked my top 6!

#6. I liked “Agricultural Work” because it was nice to see everybody working together.  The puppets were on their farms planting rice, ploughing the soil and scooping water.

Agricultural work
Agricultural work

#5. The “Unicorn’s Dance” was funny because there were two unicorns fighting over a prize. These puppets do not look like North American unicorns we see in photos, instead they look more like a mix between a lion and a dragon.  In fact, they don’t have any horns at all.

The other unicorn
One of the unicorns

#4. I really enjoyed the “Thang Long Festival Drumming” part because the puppets were all drumming at the same time and they had amazing decorations. The drum is an important instrument and is used to encourage soldiers at battle and to celebrate victory.

#3. Next, I like “Fishing” because it was hilarious! There were three parts to this scene. In the first scene, there was man who was trying to catch a fish. He fell out of his boat and the fish tried to catch him!

The fisherman
The fisherman

In the second scene, there was a man and a woman fishing with Nơm’s. Nơm’s look a bit like baskets and are used for fishing. The man used his Nơm to catch the lady, and when he released her, she caught him!

Trying to catch the fish
Trying to catch the fish
The fisherman who caught the lady
The fisherman who caught the lady

The third part was really funny. There were 4 people in Thung Chai’s (basket boats) and in the end, they all fell out and were swimming. It looked a lot funnier than it sounds!

#2. My second favorite scene was called “Chasing the Fox that tries to catch ducks.” I loved this one because there was a fox who kept trying to catch the ducks, and when a fisherman would chase it, The fox would run away and climb up a tree!

The fisherman
The fisherman

#1. My favorite scene was “Dragons Dance”. The dragons were brightly decorated and even had fire in their mouths! They went around and around in circles and squirted water out of their mouths! It was spectacular!

Two dragons
Two dragons
The smoke from the fire in the dragon's mouth
The smoke from the fire in the dragon’s mouth
The dragons head
The dragon’s head

Here are some photos from the other scenes in the show:

Here are some of the puppets on display:

After the last scene of the show, all of the puppeteers came out…  They were amazing.

All of the puppeteers
All of the puppeteers

I have seen many puppet shows before, but have never seen any done in water. I think it is a great idea and we should bring it to Canada.

Bye!
Bye!

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Comments

6 responses to “A Show on Water”

  1. Hi, Zoe, it is always fun to spend time with you all because there will be something special in store. This is such an amazing art form and it’s great that you can experience performances like this. The puppets are so colourful and the puppeteers must be very skillful to perform in the water. Loved your description and especially the photos. It was great fun to read your post. Gazillion XOXOXO’s

    1. Hi!

      I agree, this is such an amazing art form. 🙂 The puppets were very colourful, especially the dragons and the unicorns! 🙂

  2. Thanks, Zoe for the April Fool’s joke! I enjoyed your favourite 6, especially #3. I really enjoyed your blog and all your photos! Did you buy any puppets? Love, Baba

    1. Hi!

      Unfortunately, we did not buy any puppets, as we had no more space in our suitcases. I am am glad you enjoyed the fishing scene. 🙂

  3. Did they manipulate the puppets from under the water? Goes to show us that there were and are many creative ways to entertain and be entertained before we all had our ‘ techie gadgets’. Fascinating .

    1. Hi!

      The puppeteers controlled the puppets from behind a curtain. They were in the water up to their waists. 🙂