Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre Review: Considering how the term ‘water puppet show’ pops up when it comes to Vietnam, and only cited when we speak of Vietnamese tradition, it is where it all starts to get interesting.
The origin of water puppet shows and how they have evolved over centuries make for a vibrant history. Undoubtedly, it’s a tourist magnet to foreigners as well as locals visiting Hanoi. I was slightly disappointed as I sat in the theatre’s waiting room with dozens of other foreigners.
Another tourist trap? I thought.
But as the show progressed, I realized the performance wasn’t just about exhibiting Vietnam’s cultural heritage. It was much more. Thus, I had to put this out there as a separate post.
Sit back and enjoy this Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre Review. Or a blog, whatever you’d like to call it :)
Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre Review
Having said that water puppet shows are an ‘authentic’ experience in Vietnam, the Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre in Hanoi is said to be the best among all. Only did I realize the fact at the time of writing this. Yet with the evident grandeur and skill involved, it isn’t surprising.
While there are water puppet shows in most, if not all the well-known spots in the country, there are only a handful that have managed to stay consistent with their performances. With the performances themselves being a precision art form, it’s nothing short of a competition among the theatres.
The popular ones, apart from the Water puppet show in Hanoi, are the Golden Dragon Water Puppet show (Rối Nước Rồng Vàng) in Ho Chi Minh City, Lotus Water Puppet Show (múa rối nước sen, also in Hanoi), and the Nha Trang Water Puppet Theatre.
If I were to choose (not that I have much choice now), this is the best show is the best in Vietnam. I have yet to visit, but the Nha Trang Water Puppet Show held at the DO theatre in Nha Trang seems quite a distinct experience.
But that’s a story for another time. Now, back on the Thang Long Water puppet theatre review, let’s get along with the essentials before diving into its history for simplicity’s sake.
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Timings, Pricing, and Booking
Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre review: The 50-minute Thang Long water puppet shows begin late afternoons. Different sites have different schedules, but I remember entering the first show of that day around 4.
Being an indoor performance, don’t fret about finding the best time slot. The show timings are 4:10 pm, 5:20 pm, 6:30 pm, and 8:00 pm. It is advised to arrive 15 minutes early to avoid the seating fuss.
Another option is to book online in advance and pick your preferred seat and timing straight away. Book it here on Klook.com, something I use and recommend when traveling in Southeast Asia.
Key takeaway: How long does the Thang Long Water puppet show last? Around 50 minutes!
Where is it?
Bluntly, I’ve pasted the address below. But the closest landmark to it is the Hoan Kiem Lake itself. It sits right by the main road, around a 2-minute walk from the infamous Hoan Kiem Square at the heart of the city. The Ngoc Son Temple lies on the opposite side of the same road.
Address: 57B Đinh Tiên Hoàng, Hàng Bạc, Hoàn Kiếm, Hà Nội, Vietnam
Another post for you to read: Visiting Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum, Vietnam’s Past of War and Glory
Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre Prices
The regular seats cost 150,000 VND, Deluxe tickets and VIP ones at 200,000 and 300,000. Deluxe and VIP tickets are priority tickets where you avoid the long waiting queues to the theatre seating and get the center seats for the performance.
We picked the regular seats that sat on the sides of seating rows, and these were pretty good. However, I recommend picking the multilingual audio guide option at 220,000 VND, which comes with a headphone that translates dialogues along the performance.
I regret not picking this option, as the water puppet shows are always in Vietnamese. Though the visuals and gestures were incredible, the entire context of the folk stories was impossible to comprehend.
Thang Long Water Puppet Show Prices:
- Regular ticket: 150,000 VND ($7.8 SGD)
- Deluxe ticket: 200,00 VND ($10.5 SGD)
- VIP ticket: 300,000 VND ($15.6 SGD)
- Multilingual Audio Ticket: 220,000 VND ($11.5 SGD)
How to Book? Online or on-spot, anything should do. We were lucky and got the tickets on-spot but pre-booking online is a risk-free option. There’s no telling when the visitor surge spikes when it comes to the infamous Thang Long Water Puppet Show.
I recommend using Klook.com to book, as they offer reasonable deals and are quite reliable. Being a partner, our readers get a better deal.
Here are some options for the Thang Long Puppet show that I handpicked for you (the Hanoi City Tour addition saves you a lot of money). Hurry and grab your tickets today!
What is the Water Puppet Show all About?
Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre review: The show begins with a single main character, an ‘Uncle Teu’ (Chú Tễu), who emerges from the hut setup and begins a comedic introduction with jokes sprinkled all over.
From then on, the whole almost-an-hour performance splits into almost a dozen sub-acts that depict Vietnam’s village life and beliefs. A fox chasing a line of ducks, farmers harvesting, kids swimming and fishing, the infamous dragon dance with a bit of fire illuminating the pool of water.
Finally, the show of the legend of King Le Loi (Lê Lợi) as he returns the magic sword (Thuận Thiên) back to the golden turtle when boating through the Green Water Lake (Hồ Lục Thủy), which is today literally called Lake of the Returned Sword or Hoàn Kiếm Lake!
Ironically, the extravagant performance, perfected down to intricate details with the lighting, sound effects, and the top-notch orchestra, shines light on the lives of Vietnamese village-folks who never even had electricity in homes back in the day.
However (and gladly), this isn’t a result of tourism. Water puppetry, originating from local folk festivals of Vietnam’s Red River Delta Region, has been around for over a thousand years. It has evolved from being a countryside village-folk entertainment to a passionate traditional art today.
Which brings us to the next part – the history of Vietnam’s water puppet shows.
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The History of the Water Puppet Show Hanoi
The Asian puppet tradition started around a thousand years ago in the villages of the Red River Delta or the Hong River Delta. This delta spans over 240 km in Northern Vietnam, and Hanoi is a part of it.
One thing the delta is known for is its fertile soil for rice cultivation. During the yearly harvest season, village folk gathered to dance and sing, holding local festivals. Here is where water puppetry slipped gradually into the performances. These were hosted on the harvested fields filled with water.
The local shows evolved over time as an art form and moved from common village folk to the elites of the country. During Ly’s Dynasty, when Hanoi was called Thang Long, the best water puppeteers were called in to entertain kings and royal guests, ultimately boasting the art.
Over the centuries, with water puppetry still fascinating its audience, it isn’t played on rice fields anymore, although there might be a few to give that ‘authentic’ experience.
Today, these are either performed in village ponds with a staging area built for the performance, portable tanks carried by traveling performers, or in a theatre building specialized for the very performances like the Thang Long theatre itself.
How do the Vietnam Water Puppet shows work?
I was getting weary of the dull guides on ‘essential’ info on pricing, locations, and bookings that most look for. Gladly, I found that there were a few that actually bothered to look at how these puppet shows work. Thank god, interesting human beings still exist out there!
So how does it work? The puppets are carved of wood and coated with lacquer. The puppeteers stand behind a veil of bamboo curtain, usually with the facade of a temple over their heads.
The puppets stand on the end of long sticks and are handled and moved around by the other end. Strings to pull the puppets’ specific body parts, typically their hands.
Fun fact: these weigh over 15 kg each. As you can imagine, moving long wooden sticks underwater with a grip on a single end needs puppetry, not just the art skill, but great strength. The puppeteers, usually around 8-10 members, stand in the waist-deep pool with their trousers and sleeves rolled up throughout the act.
There are videos you can find online, behind-the-scenes of the water-puppetry, and it’s quite a fascinating watch. To create an illusion of puppets moving with life, sometimes the puppeteers cross over with the heavy neighboring puppet sticks, thus making it hard to tell if the ‘puppets’ were wandering on their own.
My favorite was how the puppet cows moved their heads as they waddled through – they hadn’t any strings. Instead, the heads were mounted on spring coils of sorts, making it like a bobble-head!
Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre Review: Tailpiece
So the Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre review… is it worth it? Absolutely yes! Whether you’re into history, culture, or neither at all, I’ll take a strong bet that it’ll turn out interesting.
But between you and me, here’s a secret: somewhere in the middle, we did get weary with the whole acts and ‘witty dialogues’ which we couldn’t understand. We even took selfies during the show – sorry, but it is a 50-minute-long performance!
Yet I remember entirely immersing in the act towards the end. The dragon show saved up for the last part, with fireworks surging from the magnificent dragon’s body as it danced gracefully, was the real deal.
To conclude my mixed review ending here, I believe if I had gotten that darn audio guide option, it would have been the best additional spend. The show was interesting either way with its visuals and music, but following the stories would have been something else.
They do have the audio-guided option as well when you’re booking online (links to Klook.com). I wish I’d picked these.
Unless you speak Vietnamese, get that audio add-on ticket and dive into the ancient folk stories of Northern Vietnam. Thank me later.
Anyhow, that was my rant on the Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre review. Happy traveling :)