Friday, August 10, 2007

Water Puppet Show-Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam

We were lucky to be able to go to the water puppet show in Ho Chi Minh City as it is usually only held in Hanoi. The water puppet theatre dates from the 11th century.
The dancing fairies were like synchronised swimmers flapping their wings.
The boat race caused the water to spill onto the floor as they raced back and forth across the pool.
Dressed in traditional clothes and using traditional instruments 6 musicians sat around the stage accompanying the puppets.
The dragon had fireworks come out of its mouth and sprayed water over those of us near the front and all the cameras disappeared quickly!


At the end of the show the puppeteers appeared from behind the screens. They have to serve a very long apprenticeship before they can work in public. They were so skillful. They had frogs leaping out of the water and a fox chased the farmers ducks around the pool and ended up a tree with one in its mouth. Quite amazing! It was a fun night!