Vietnamese+Water+Puppets

Vietnamese = Vietnamese Water Puppets =

Origin: Construction: Competition: History Modern Performance: Content: Lesson Idea: ·  In groups of 8, students will read a Vietnamese folk tale or Short Story ·  Students will create a script and puppets to present the story to the class ·  Show the puppet show to the class. Bibliography //Vietnamese Short Stories: An Introduction.// James Banerian, ed. Phoenix: Sphinx Publishing. 1986. Vu Nguyen. //Vietnam.net. //“The Long Cultural Strings of Water Puppetry.” . Vietnamese Folk Tales and Legends < http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Den/5908/legend/legend.html >. Vietnamese Myths and Folk Tales. < http://www.marymount.k12.ny.us/marynet/StudentResources/art/southeastasia/vietnam/html/vietmyths.html >. View a Water Puppet Show: http://www.vietnam-culture.com/articles-132-22/Vietnamese-water-puppet.aspx
 * Tradition dates back to the tenth Century
 * Originated in the Red River Delta area of northern Vietnam.
 * When the rice paddies flooded the villagers used the flooded paddies to invent Water Puppetry for entertainment.
 * Built of old fig wood
 * Made durable by seven layers of paint
 * Popular colors are black, green, lotus petal, yellow, and flesh-tone
 * Shows are performed in waist-deep water
 * A large rod supports the puppets under the water which is manipulated by puppeteers.
 * To the audience, the puppet appear to move over the water.
 * In ancient times, the villagers would compete against each other with these puppet shows.
 * Therefore, puppet societies would become secretive and exclusive in order to develop the most creative puppets.
 * Initiation into one of these puppet societies would involve drinking rooster blood.
 * Only recently were women allowed to join the puppet troupes.
 * Most famous guild of Water Puppets is the Hong Phong guild
 * Water puppets were invented as a way to satisfy the many spirits who controlled all aspects of the rural Vietnamese life.
 * Therefore the shows were both entertainment and worship.
 * Performed in a pool of water 4 meters square
 * The water surface is the stage.
 * Can be in one of three different venues—on traditional ponds in villages, on portable tanks built for traveling performance, or in a specialized building where a pool stage has constructed.
 * Will have up to 8 puppeteers
 * Stand behind a split-bamboo screen
 * Decorated to resemble a temple façade
 * Use long bamboo rods and string mechanism hidden beneath the water to control the puppets
 * A traditional Vietnamese orchestra provides the background music that accompanies the performance.
 * Instruments include the following: vocals, drums, wooden bells, cymbals, horns, //erhu// (Chinese two-stringed fiddle), and bamboo flutes.
 * Certain instruments accompany certain character—the flute would suggest royalty while the loud drums and cymbals may introduce a fire-breathing dragon
 * //Cheo// is a type of opera that originated in north Vietnam which is sung to tell the story being acted out by the puppets.
 * During the performance, the musicians and the puppets interact—the mausicians may yell a word or warning to a puppet in danger or a word of encouragement to a puppet in need.
 * Puppets may enter from either side of the stage or emerge from the water.
 * The stage is decorated with colorful flags and spotlights.
 * Skits have a strong reference to Vietnamese folklore.
 * May tell of day-to-day living in rural Vietnam.
 * Often have stories of the harvest, of fishing, and of festivals.