WATER PUPPETS

My friend Connie and I both wanted to see the Water Puppet Show here, and one afternoon, when we were wandering about, we found the theater and stopped to buy tickets.  There was a show starting right then, so we decided to go in to see it.

The show was staged in a small theater, and the "stage" was a pool of water surrounded by curtains.  On one side of this stage and elevated above it were three Vietnamese women, dressed in traditional clothing, who narrated the story and provided sound effects with percussion instruments and singing.  The performance was a series of traditional dances of the various tribes living in different areas of Viet Nam.

It's a very unique form of performance art.

I was trying to imagine how these puppets were controlled.

At the end of the performance, all was revealed.  Behind the curtains are these operators who control the puppets with wooden levers.

A close-up of one of the puppets that were displayed all around the lobby.



There are several performances each day at this theater, and I thought about those operators standing in water for hours....they must squish their way home!