Thang Long Water Puppet

Thang Long water puppet is a show that becomes a tradition for thousand years in North Vietnam. Because the show performed on the surface of ponds and rice-fields thousand years ago, it is also performed on the same way in the theatre nowadays.

The stage contains a small ponds with greenery water and bamboo curtains at the back to hide the figure of the player.

Tickets are sold in 2 classes:
1. First class, costs VND 60,000 (1 USD = VND 17,500)
2. Second class, costs VND 40,000

Performances take place all days of the week

Time

15:30 PM - 17:00 PM - 18:30 PM - 20:00 PM - 21:15 PM

Sunday morning: 9:30 AM ( especially discount 50% ticket price for youngsters)

In the brochure it is stated that you have to pay VND 15,000 for taking pictures with camera and VND 60,000 for capturing a movie/video. Inside the theatre, everybody ignore this note and just take pictures and movies freely.

As I told you, you must be a tradition and culture lover if you want to see this show. Otherwise, it will be very boring for you and you will feel like wasting your precious and limited time in Hanoi/Vietnam.

For little ones, I am pretty sure that they will love the show because it is interesting to see the puppets appear and dissapear from the water, dancing and perform on the surface of the water, and so on.

Tips from me:
A. Buy the front row seats (A, B, C, D). At the back seats you will see nothing except people's heads in front of you.

B. Be at the place at least half an hour to make your chance bigger in getting the front row seats. The best is to book it online or through someone you know in Hanoi previously like I did.

C. Don't try to relate one scene to another because it does not have any relationship at all. The whole show takes about 45 minutes, covering 17 scenes:
1. Raising the Festival Flag
2. Chu Teu or the narrator
3. Dragon Dance: Four Dragons dancing on the surface of water
4. On a buffalo with a flute
5. Agriculture (planting the rice field)
6. Catching frogs
7. Rearing ducks and catching a fox
8. Fishing
9. Harvest festival. Returning to the native land after college graduation. A triumphant return of a new graduate to his native village aim at expressing his gratitude to the anchestors.
10.Lion dance
11. Phoenix dance (ended with having a big white egg, interesting)
12. Legend of the Restored Sword; King Le Loi after triumphing over Ming invaders, gave the magic sword back to a giant golden turtle who lived in the Lake. This legend is associated with Hoan Kiem Lake or Lake of the Restored Sword which is located in front of the Thang Long Theatre.
13. Children playing in the water
14. Boat racing
15. Unicorns play with a ball
16. Fairy dance
17. Dance of four holy animals

Enjoy the show!