Along Highway No.3 from Hanoi to the centre of Dong Anh about 30km, then turning right and continuing for 10km approximately, Dao Thuc Water Puppetry village on the bank of Ca Lo River will show up in front of your eyes. The village with nearly 300 years of development is an attractive destination for your passion of exploring handicraft villages in urban areas.
This captivating journey will give you a great chance to learn about the folk arts of Vietnamese people and relax with versatile puppet repertoires of the artists. You can be involved with puppetry artists in a group of 20 people including actor puppeteers, musicians playing flute, drums and vocalists, to learn how to perform them. This is very interesting moments that you will never forget.
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Thuy Dinh, a replica temple facade of traditional northern architecture set up on a beautiful pond surrounded by green trees, is the main stage for water puppet shows in the village. During the performance, puppeteers stand in the waist-deep water behind Thuy Dinh, separated from the front stage by a split-bamboo screen and handle puppets with bamboo rods, ropes and pulleys hidden underwater. Each maneuver of the puppets is skillfully manipulated to be natural and match the characters’ speeches as well as the tunes and beats of the background music. Singing is also important during water puppet performance.
The plots are closely related to Vietnamese folklore or daily routines, featuring the culture and people of the Vietnamese countryside. Audience interest focuses on skits such as fire crackers and flag raising, dragon dances, peacock dances, frog catching, swimming fish, Thach Sach fighting evil and Van singing. Each show for visitors includes 10 to 15 skits.
Whenever coming to Dao Thuc village to enjoy water puppetry, you will feel all the so-called “Vietnamese spirit”.