Asian Geographic - 09.2018

PHOTO © SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

In North Vietnam, mua roi nuoc (water

puppetry) is a highly developed folk theatre.

Dating back to 1121 AD, the form lourished as

village entertainment in the Red River Delta

in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Staged on ponds, mua roi nuoc

performances present 45- to 90m-tall puppets

mounted on frames or atached to long

poles that are submerged in the water. he

puppeteers work the characters behind a stage

house, accompanied by live music.

Vietnam

STILL WATER

In hailand, puppet theatre consists of two
styles:nangandhun. he very popularnang
talungcomprises small puppets about half
a metre in height, originating in southern
hailand in the 17th or 18th century. henang
nai(puppeteer), accompanied by a small
orchestra of ive musicians, presents stories
based on local legends, such as theRamakien
(hai version of theRamayana). Daytime
shows normally use brightly coloured
puppets, while black is used at night.
hehunstyle dates back to the 11th
century. In particular,hun lakon lek(“small
puppet dance-drama”) was revived by master
puppeteer Sakorn Yangkhiawsod, otherwise
known as Joe Louis. In 1985, Yangkhiawsod
founded the Joe Louis Puppet heatre,
which performed adaptations of epic hai
literature, using puppets constructed from
wood, papier-mache and fabric, accompanied
by a piphat orchestra of xylophones, drums,
gongs and cymbals. Each puppet requires the
synchronised eforts of three puppeteers.

hailand

ADYINGART

India has a dazzling array of puppet

theatre forms, with epic literary texts – the

Mahabharata, Ramayana and Puranas –

providing rich source material for dramatists.

Tollu bommalu (“leather doll”) is a popular

form of shadow puppet theatre, said to

originate in 200 BC. Its large, translucent and

multicoloured puppets are intricately carved

and inely perforated, and the puppet shadows

are produced by the lickering glow of oil

lamps and torches.

he kathapuli (“puppet story”) is the string

puppet theatre of Rajasthan in northern India.

he puppeteers stand above the wooden

characters, each about 60cm tall, and operate

them using strings connected to the head,

waist and hands. he puppets usually do not

have legs and feet.

India

PUPPET TAPESTRY

[In hailand] Eah hun lakon

lek puppet requires the

synhronised eforts of

three puppeteers