VietNamNet Bridge – A play named ‘The Melody of Homeland’ by the Vietnam Puppetry Theatre has won the grand prize at the fifth Harmony World Puppet Carnival held in Bangkok, Thailand in October, 2014. This is the largest award Vietnamese puppetry has gained in the international arena.

A scene in the puppetry play ‘The Melody of Homeland’

Efforts to develop along with water puppetry

Since the late 1980s when Vietnam’s economy began to open up to the world, there have been more and more foreign visitors to Vietnam and Hanoi has been one of the most popular places to explore, especially in order to learn about the art of water puppetry.

Coming to Hanoi, visitors can enjoy water puppetry performances in many places such as Thang Long Water Puppetry Theatre, the Central Puppetry Theatre, Vietnam Museum of Ethnology, Bong Sen Water Puppetry Centre under the Vietnam Contemporary Arts Theatre.

In addition to Hanoi, numerous other localities have developed the water puppetry arts to attract more tourists such as Quang Ninh (Bai Chay Tourist area and Yen Duc village in Dong Trieu town) and Hai Duong (Hong Phong puppetry troupe in Ninh Giang district).

Therefore, water puppetry is popular in many forums promoting Vietnamese culture and tourism. In the mind of Vietnamese people, water puppetry is the main form of the art of Vietnamese puppetry.

However, many arts troupes, including Hai Phong Puppetry Troupe, focus on development of standard puppetry while maintaining water puppetry performances as a way to keep actors’ career skills.

In 2011, the troupe invested much time and money in performing a puppetry play of the classic ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ on an imposing stage. Vaudeville elements were used to increase its attractiveness, bringing success to the play with numerous performances at Song Cam theatre.

The troupe is also performing on stage ‘Treasure Island’ based on a story appealing to children. It is expected to be as successful as ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’.

It is difficult for local troupes to put on large-scale puppetry programmes every year to attract more audiences, therefore the Hai Phong puppetry troupe has to arrange small-scale pieces and give performances at schools and offices, especially on holidays for children including the Mid-Autumn Festival and International and International Children's Day (June 1).

Be active in audience diversification

The attractive content of puppetry plays is considered an important factor in attracting more audiences. In addition to developing content based on fairy tales and world famous novels, a combination with other traditional art forms can help standard puppetry performances achieve success and attract larger audiences, according to the director of ‘The Melody of Homeland’ Meritorious Artist Nguyen Tien Dung.

With scenes depicting the daily life of people in the southern villages, the play features their joy of labour whilst praising the love of family and spiritual life.

The scenes are connected together harmoniously in combination with the puppeteers’ performances of dance and singing folk songs including Cheo (traditional opera), Quan Ho (traditional love duet) and Chau Van (spiritual). This combination has created the flexible and consistent continuity between the puppets and the artists.

However, depending on the different types of audiences, the play ‘The Melody of Homeland’ has different versions which were welcomed enthusiastically.

The content remains unchanged, but the form of the puppets and stage decorations can be changed. For example, to serve the soldiers and people in Dien Bien and Quang Tri provinces, revolutionary and local folk songs replaced the Cheo, Quan Ho and Chau Van songs.

With the grand prize that the show gained at the 2014 Harmony World Puppet Carnival, the Vietnam Puppetry Theatre can affirm self-confidently that Vietnamese puppetry arts will be developed in both types of water and standard puppetry.

Hopefully, the prestigious awards will help not only the theatre but also Vietnamese puppetry arts exploit the potentials to develop the standard puppetry form.

Nhan Dan