Water Puppet Theatre

Thang Long Puppet Theatre is a famous cultural place for domestic and foreign tourists. It is situated on Dinh Tien Hoang street and nearby many other attractions in Hanoi as Hoan Kiem Lake & Ngoc Son Temple, Hanoi Old Quarter, Ly Thai To Park, Hanoi Opera House, etc. It provides the water puppet show which is unique Vietnam traditional art.  

The Theatre was established on October 1969 and now become the leading brand name of Vietnamese water puppetry. The Theatre has of preservation, maintenance and development of the traditional water puppetry; confirm-reinforce its brand name; contribute significant part to the advertisement and speed up the cultural and art exchange and cooperation in the world. There are often 5-7 shows every day to satisfy with demands of audiences.

The main content of water puppet show is about daily life of Vietnamese farmers (cultivating, tending buffalo, catching fishes…), communal entertainment (swimming contest, dragon dancing…), or historical legends (Le Loi returns precious sword…). Performances are accompanied by a Vietnamese orchestra playing traditional music using drums, wooden bells, horns, bamboo flutes and cymbals. There are also authentic Vietnamese operatic songs telling the story that is being acted out by the puppets.  And the main music used in the water puppetry performance is music of Cheo which is the specific traditional art in the Northern plain.