Thang Long Water Puppets, Hanoi

The night back from the Ha Long Bay trip, we went to check out a Vietnamese Water Puppet show! We had heard mixed reviews, but we were optimistic, and it only costs like $2!

There is a medium sized set based over a pool of water, and a live Vietnamese band to the side playing music, including a very cool instrument that looked like a cross between a guitar and a keyboard with a fountain pen for a whammy bar! The whole show is narrated in Korean, so I wasn’t entirely sure what was going on. It’s based on traditional Vietnamese stories, involving farming, fishing, dragons, a giant turtle laying an egg, and random boat races. This may make more sense if you read about the story in English first… I hadn’t.

We all enjoyed the show, and some of the puppet control was awesome! I particularly liked the fire breathing water dragons that emerged from the water with lit flares in their mouths, showering sparks over the stage.

My guess of how it worked was confirmed as they revealed the pupeteers at the end, hiding in the water behind the set. The puppets are mounted on long poles which have pully rope/wires inside to control limbs and other movements independant of the puppets wider movements. Pretty cool!

I didn’t have my camera but here is a random YT clip from the same show. More info on the theatre here.