An outdoor water puppetry show took place on Monday morning at the Administrative Centre Park in Lien Chieu District, attracting more than 400 people of all ages and classes to enjoy.

A water puppet performance at the show

Offered by students majoring in the Communications and Event Organisation from the FPT Polytechnic College based in Da Nang, the free show aims to introduce and bring traditional folk theater arts closer to the public.

During the show, the public was introduced to two types of puppetry art: water puppetry and ground puppetry.

Accordingly, they saw the puppets on the water surface acting out various scenarios, including the ‘the character of Teu’ (Teu is the most notable character in water puppetry, performing humorous actions for the audience), dragon dance, lion dance fighting for a ball, phoenix dance, fox catching duck, fishing, legend of the eight immortals, and ‘Tu Linh’ (four sacred mythical creatures: dragon, kylin, phoenix and tortoise) dance.

Meanwhile, there were three ground puppet performances about Apsara dancers, Indian belly dance, and Latin dance.

All the performances were performed by artists from the Hue Water Puppet Theatre.

The puppets are shaped closely to the lives of Vietnamese people, expressing the characteristics of farmers in the Red River Delta.

Mrs. Le Thi Hoai Thuong, 35-year-old resident of Hoa Khanh Bac Ward, Lien Chieu District, took her child to the show to learn about the beautiful traditional culture of ancestors. They chose to sit close to the stage so they could fully enjoy the puppetry performances.

“I've seen puppetry show on TV before, but this is the first time my child and I have seen it live. The show brings me a closer connection, and a deeper sense of the beauty of traditional art. I hope there will be more programmes like this so that not only children but even adults will love more the rich and beautiful cultural values of the previous generations. This is also a way to preserve traditional values" Ms. Thuong shared.

A water puppet performance entitled "Fox catches duck".

Similar to Mrs. Thuong, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Do, 60, residing in Hoa Minh Ward, Lien Chieu District, saw water puppetry show live for the first time.

She said that she really liked traditional art but has few opportunities to access and enjoy art programmes at a close distance, mainly watching it via TV or phone. Therefore, the programme brought her a meaningful weekend evening.

Tran Thi Thuy Binh, the second year student majoring in the Communications and Event Organization, a member of the organizing board, expressed that water puppetry was a unique and very unique folk theater art form of Viet Nam, but many people, especially children are still unknown. Therefore, the organizing boar’s members decided to choose this type of folk art to make it more accessible to the public.

“As a young person, I and other students always desire to contribute a small part in preserving the traditional values of the nation," Binh shared.

Mr. Nguyen Dinh An, Director of the FPT Polytechnic Da Nang said "Through the show, we want to spread the beauty of water puppetry art form closer to the community. At the same time, it shows respect for young people's traditional values towards national culture. This show will be a premise for the school and its students to continue organising other meaningful art programmes for the community."

Reporting by THU DUYEN - Translating by M.DUNG