What is water puppetry?

Water puppetry is a traditional art form native only to the Vietnamese. This particular craft is highly intricate, despite the simplicity of the imagery and storylines. (Video is at the bottom of this article)

The water puppetry began as farmers in Vietnam spent much of their lives in the flooded rice paddies, working. Water became such a part of their daily life, that it was natural to display and narrate their beliefs, customs, and events, using water as the setting. Water puppetry is in fact, thousands of years old, and the scenes set in the performances can include farming traditions, buffalo fighting, fishing, and special events or rituals. There are also retellings of local mythology.

The puppets themselves are wooden figures, some with articulated limbs, heads and hands. These puppets - whether it be one figure or more - are attached to a floating pontoon, which lies just beneath the surface of the water; and therefore makes the puppets appear as though they are floating across the water. The pontoon is attached to a long pole, which allows the puppeteer to push or pull the puppet depending on the direction of movement needed.

Vietnamese water puppets, in front of the bamboo blind that hides the puppeteers, click on image for larger view. Image by oakettun.

In order to operate the puppets, ropes are attached to the parts that require movement, and are hidden within the hollow wooden figure; and are then run down underneath the water, along the pole that the puppet is attached to, and then to the puppeteer’s hands. It can take at least three puppeteers to operate each puppet (remember, there can be more than one figure on each pontoon), with the more difficult puppets requiring more manipulators. Some scenes are quite complex, such as animals eating other animals, human figures fishing, and so on.

 In order to facilitate a mysterious atmosphere, the puppeteers are hidden. The stage, which naturally is the water, is surrounded on either side (stage left and right) by aisles, which allow the puppets to make their way out into the main stage/pond. At upstage, there is a large pavillion, which has a bamboo blind at the front.

This bamboo blind is an important part of the pavillion. Behind the blind sit the puppeteers, who can see through the blind to what they’re trying to do on stage. However, the audience can’t see through the blind - kind of like a natural version of a light curtain.

Within the pavillion stand the puppeteers, often waist deep within the water, and behind them sits a wooden platform on which puppets and stage hands can rest. The whole pavillion is enclosed, in order to create a dark room for the puppeteers to be hidden behind the bamboo blind. The puppetry is accompanied with a small percussion orchestra, as well as a narrator.

(You’ll notice that I’ve placed this particular type of puppetry underneath the ‘Marionette’ heading - this is because this type uses pulleys and ropes to operate the puppet with, and therefore I think it probably makes it part of the ‘marionette’, or string puppet, category. However, it must be noted that water puppetry is of itself, its own category, and shouldn’t be just lumped in with the European traditions of marionettes. They are quite different)

There are a number of puppet troupes, who now travel within Vietnam and internationally, and each troupe has its own stories and puppet traditions. Much of the water puppetry traditions are not revealed to the general public; naturally the Vietnamese people are protective of a wonderfully mysterious national treasure. The methods of operation and building techniques are not revealed even to other puppet troupes within the country! Pavillions and ponds are now built specially for touring performances, but previously the town’s communal building would have been used, with a pond created during the wet seasons.

Want more?

• If you’re interested in seeing more pictures, there’s heaps of great ones on Flickr - you may also want to do a search on Youtube (there’s a video example at the bottom of this post)
• There’s more info on The Puppetry Homepage (here)
• Vietscape has a nice intro with pictures
• ThingsAsian has an intro based on the book, Vietnamese Water Puppetry but has some extra info that wasn’t in the book. Read the book review here.
• Thang Long Water Puppets Theatre - a Vietnamese troupe - can be found here. This troupe tours internationally, including the US and Australia
• Vietnamese Artwork sell water puppets

This post AKA how is a vietnamese water puppet design. Title image by aokettun