Imagine Punch and Judy crossed with Team America... while drowning.
Then add in lots of shouting, some very clever mechanisms (some of which I still haven't completely worked out), and you have the Vietnamese Water Puppet Show. It envolves puppet masters standing waist deep in water while controlling wooded puppets attached to long sticks. It originated in villages in the 11th Century, and when the rice fields flooded the villagers would entertain each other with puppetry.
The short sketches, not so creatively titled things like 'Man In Boat Fishing', and 'Boy Chased By Dragon', were more impressive for the technicality of the puppets than the actual storyline or narrative. And the novelty wore off after about 20 minutes (I've developed a very short attention span in Vietnam, especially in badly air-conned theatres). It definitely needed a bit of sex or violance, at least Punch and Judy beat each other up to keep you entertained!
However the show did tell the story of how traditional Vietnamese people live their day to day lives, and it was an interesting expression of their culture, and a unique insight into their traditional belief system.
In a way the performance reminded me of the Drench ads with the dancing Thunderbirds puppet. Maybe this is where the Creative Team got their inspiration from? (but probably not!)
Extremely witty post Leo! I had no idea that they still used puppets to perform shows, but then again I suppose they don't have many 3d imaxes in Vietnam villages.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like an interesting way to show their culture. I can imagine their narrative voice would be useless to us English folk, but I suppose that's why they have the puppets to act out the visuals.
Loving the: "Punch and Judy crossed with Team America... while drowning" reference. Excellent description.