Vietnamese water puppet shows are held with the event featuring the daily life of farmers and common aspects of Vietnamese spiritual life. Source: Van Hoa (Culture) newspaper

An art troupe of the Vietnam Puppet Theater has participated in the 63rd International Children's Festival held in Šibenik of Croatia.

11 artists from the Vietnam Puppet Theater introduced local folk art to the world, with this helping international friends to gain greater understanding of traditional Vietnamese culture.

The audience experienced the interesting daily life of simple and kind farmers in the Northern Delta. Not only that, the performance of Hau Dong also brings surprises to the viewers, with the illusory and mysterious beauty of the Vietnamese spiritual life.

International audiences are not only interested in the vivid puppetry, but also enjoy other artistic quintessence of Vietnam through folk songs and traditional costumes. All have contributed to bringing an art party that conquers viewers in terms of hearing, sight and emotion.

Young spectators get to know water puppetry. Source: Van Hoa (Culture) newspaper

At the end of the program, the artists of the Vietnam Puppet Theater received the support and warm applause of the public, especially the children. Many spectators also expressed their excitement and lingered on the stage to interact with the artists to experience and learn more about the traditional art of Vietnamese water puppetry.

Meritorious Artist Nguyen The Long, deputy director of the Vietnam Puppet Theater shared that every year, the Vietnam Puppet Theater has hundreds of performances to serve children and adults. The 63rd International Children's Festival is a valuable opportunity for the Vietnam Puppet Theater to bring the nation's unique water puppet shows to international children.

Water puppetry represents a tradition that dates back as far as the 11th century when it originated in the villages of the Red River Delta area of ​​northern Vietnam.

The puppets are made out of wood and then lacquered, whilst the shows are performed in a waist-deep pool. A large bamboo rod supports the puppet under the water and is used by the puppeteers, who are normally hidden behind a screen, to control them. This creates the effect of puppets appearing to be moving over the water. This comes from the tradition of when rice fields would flood, villagers would come together to entertain each other by using this form of puppeteering.

Audiences who came to watch the Vietnamese puppet show were extremely excited. Source: Van Hoa (Culture) newspaper

Some other young spectators expressed surprise and delight when the artists were perfectly controlled the puppets with just a bamboo rod. "For me, the stage setting, the costumes, the acting of the artists and the puppets are all exceptional. Elements like water and fire make a simple story so much more interesting," 14-year-old Lucija Ivanović shared.

The International Children's Festival was first held back in 1958, with the event drawing the participation of children from different parts of the world. During the festival held in June, all of the squares and streets are extremely lively.

The festival this year takes place from June 24 to July 8 in Croatia, with the occasion encourage many ideas in various forms of art for children's creativity, including drama, puppetry, music-scenes, film, literature, and visual arts.

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