Thang Long Water Puppet Theater is the only traditional water puppetry performing art unit in Vietnam that takes place continuously 365 days a year. Coming here, visitors can not only admire the unique traditional water puppetry performance art but also immerse themselves in the profound space of national cultural history.
Overview of Thang Long Water Puppet Theater
Water puppetry is an art form that was born around the 11th century in the Red River Delta of Vietnam and has become a symbol of traditional Vietnamese art. Water puppetry is often performed on happy days, holidays, village festivals, Tet holidays, etc. The performing artists will use puppets to act on the water, creating an interesting scene. Water puppetry has strong folk elements, so it is considered a unique intangible cultural feature of the Vietnamese people. This art form of water puppetry has quickly become a traditional art form, an unique intangible cultural feature of the Vietnamese people.
Thang Long Puppetry Theatre is located at 57B Dinh Tien Hoan Street, Hoan Kiem Ward, right in the heart of Hanoi, next to Hoan Kiem Lake and Hanoi’s Old Quarter. Thang Long Theatre is the only art unit in Vietnam that performs water puppetry year-round, preserving Vietnam’s traditional culture.
Thang Long Puppetry Theatre was built in 1969. With over 50 years of history, it has become a place that preserves Vietnam’s traditional culture. Although it has gone through many ups and downs and at times seemed impossible to overcome because the chaotic development of the times has faded the traditional art of water puppetry. However, with a love for art and a desire to preserve traditional cultural features, the artisans of Thang Long Theatre have made efforts to preserve this unique cultural feature.
In 1990, Thang Long Water Puppetry Theatre took a big step forward when it decided to invest in restoring the art form of water puppetry and performing for domestic and foreign tourists to promote the unique traditional cultural beauty of the Vietnamese people.
In the early days of implementing the new operating model, because visitor numbers were still low, Thang Long Water Puppetry Theatre performed only periodically, on a weekly and monthly basis. However, thanks to the uniqueness and constant creativity of this traditional art form, more and more tourists came to the Thang Long Water Puppetry Theatre. Therefore, the theatre has gradually increased the number of performances to better serve the audience’s needs. Up to now, Thang Long Theatre has had continuous performances 365 days a year.
After more than 20 years of development, Thang Long Water Puppetry Theatre has become the leading brand of Vietnamese water puppetry. The theatre has received many prestigious awards at puppetry festivals at home and abroad. In particular, Thang Long Water Puppetry Theatre has successfully left its mark on Vietnam’s unique traditional water puppetry art, with performances in 40 countries, from Asia to America and Europe.
Entrance fees at Thang Long Water Puppet Theater
Water puppetry is becoming a unique traditional art form, preserved, invested in, and developed, so most cultural tourism programs in Hanoi include a schedule to enjoy traditional water puppetry at the Thang Long Water Puppetry Theatre. Currently, Thang Long Water Puppetry Theatre has a capacity of about 300 people, and each water puppet show lasts about 50 minutes.
Ticket prices at Thang Long Water Puppetry Theater are divided into 3 different types of tickets depending on the seating position, including:
- General ticket (3rd row of seats farthest from the stage): 100,000 VND/guest
- Regular ticket (2nd row of seats): 150,000 VND/guest
- VIP ticket (1st row of seats closest to the stage): 200,000 VND/guest
If tourists want to take photos or record videos, they will have to pay an additional fee of 20,000 VND/camera and 60,000 VND/video camera.
*** Note: If tourists use filming and photography equipment, they will incur an additional fee. Cameras are 20,000 VND/camera, and video cameras are 60,000 VND/camera.
Outstanding performances of Thang Long Water Puppetry Theatre
Thang Long Water Puppetry Theatre in Hanoi has presented numerous water puppet shows across various forms and genres. The performances are closely associated with the country’s innovation and development processes, and are worthy of becoming the quintessence of Vietnamese culture. Among them, the most prominent and attractive to tourists are the 8 typical performances that deeply honor the art of Vietnamese water puppetry.
Returning in glory
According to ancient customs, every 3-5 years, the royal court would organize an exam to select talented people. Those who passed the exam would be given a uniform and hat by the royal court to return to their village to pay their respects to their ancestors before officially working in the royal court.
This custom is a special favor from the king to talented people, and also a reminder to everyone to always cultivate their talents and ethics to help the people and the country.
Mr. Teu
Teu is a gentle, simple farmer boy and a humorous narrator during village festivals. This is a character who has the right to make sarcastic remarks about any event or person appearing in the story.
This play always attracts tourists because of Teu’s humorous and charming words.
Dance of The Four Sacred
The dance represents sacredness, helping viewers to approach noble philosophies of life. The Four Sacred include Dragon, Qilin, Turtle, and Phoenix – sacred animals of heaven and earth, bringing luck, wealth, loyalty, and longevity. These four sacred animals also often appear in Vietnamese temples.
Dragon and Phoenix dance
Dragon and Phoenix are two important animals in Vietnamese folklore. Dragon is the embodiment of strength and majesty, while phoenix represents grace and gentleness.
Phoenix dance is often performed in pairs, with the male and the female. The couple’s harmony also helps visitors think of the faithful, steadfast love between husband and wife.
Lion dance
Lion dance is a form of traditional dance in which performers mimic a lion’s movements in a lion costume to bring good luck and fortune. The lion dance in this water puppet show is a wish for farmers to have a life of bountiful crops, prosperity, happiness, and success in everything.
Agriculture
The Agriculture water puppet show depicts the daily work of Vietnamese farmers, such as plowing, planting rice, watering, and harvesting… The audience will see images of hard-working, diligent farmers working enthusiastically in the fields.
Fairy dance
This is a dance performance related to the theme of Dragons and Fairies, which are considered by the people to be the ancestors of the Vietnamese. The dance is associated with the traditional story of the Vietnamese people: Lac Long Quan married Au Co and gave birth to a bag of 100 eggs.
They hatched into 100 children, 50 of whom followed their mother to the forest and 50 followed their father to the sea. Later, Lac Long Quan abdicated in favor of his eldest son, Hung King.
Le Loi boat trip
The dance is associated with the legendary story of Hoan Kiem Lake and the national hero Le Loi. After more than 10 years of arduous resistance, Le Loi won victory and ascended the throne in 1428. While cruising on the lake to see the scenery, a golden turtle god emerged to demand the return of the magic sword that had been given to the king. The king returned the magic sword to him. From then on, the names Hoan Kiem Lake and Sword Lake were born.
Thang Long Water Puppet Theater has now become a tourist attraction, where visitors can come to Hanoi to learn about and admire the unique traditional cultural features of the Vietnamese people through the art of water puppetry.
Source: collected by An
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