In the final week of 2015, Da Nang’s Nguyen Hien Dinh Tuong Theatre held water puppet shows free-of-charge at the 29 March Park.  They attracted large audiences of both locals and visitors.

The shows featured some popular water puppetry stories, including ‘Teu Giao Tro’ (Uncle Teu), ‘Tu Linh’ (Four Sacred Animals), ‘Le Loi’ (Vietnamese King Le Loi), ‘Dua Thuyen’ (Boat Racing), ‘Trau Sao’ (Buffalo and Flute), ‘Cay Cay’ (Cultivation), ‘Cau Ech’(Frog Fishing), ‘Cao Bat Vit’ (Foxes Catching Ducks), and ‘Cu Boi Va Up Nom’ (An Old Man and a Fishing Basket).

Nguyen Hien Dinh Tuong Theatre’s water puppet performers

The theatre’s director, Mr Tran Ngoc Tuan, excitedly reported that these free water puppet performances will be repeated at the 29 March Park over the coming Tet Festival period.  He added that a performance area for this type of arts will soon be built in the city in order to preserve the value of this traditional Vietnamese art form and to create a new tourism attraction for the city.

In Ha Noi, the Thang Long Water Puppetry Theatre holds 6 water puppet shows and earns 180 million VND each day.  Recently, similar shows have been introduced in Quang Nam Province’s Hoi An City and these have attracted large numbers of domestic and foreign visitors.  It is hoped, therefore, that water puppetry will become one of Da Nang’s exciting cultural activities which will help the city to attract more visitors in the years ahead.