Seventy years ago, wooden puppets from the villages of Northern Vietnam stepped onto the professional stage. Today, those puppets continue their journey, carrying their unique identity so that puppetry is not only remembered but also anticipated. Besides restoring and enhancing traditional plays, the theater also stages many new works of significant stature such as "Independence Flower - The Sacred Soul of the Nation," "Emotions of Long Thanh," and "The Adventures of Cricket"... These explorations in puppetry design, staging, music , and stage space have enriched the expressive language of puppetry, bringing this art form beyond its familiar boundaries and closer to contemporary aesthetic sensibilities.
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| This performance is part of the "Blush-Cheeked Water Pavilion Dance" program - a tourist attraction by the Vietnam Puppet Theatre. |
Not content with traditional stages, the theater actively expands its performance spaces, transforming puppetry into an attractive cultural and tourism product. Notable examples include performances at the À Ơi Theater ( Phu Quoc , An Giang) and Asia Park (Da Nang)... through collaborations with businesses. With a performance network spanning from Hanoi and Da Nang to Phu Quoc, the theater maintains 2 to 3 performances nationwide daily. This is a rare level of activity in the performing arts, making the theater one of the most consistently performing units among traditional theatrical troupes.
To operate a massive production with 2,180 performances, attracting 1 million viewers and achieving a revenue of 16 billion VND in 2025, the key factor lies in human resources. Sharing his thoughts on this, People's Artist Nguyen Tien Dung, Director of the Vietnam Puppet Theatre, affirmed that the heritage only truly lives on when there is a successor team with sufficient dedication and talent to continue the legacy of their predecessors. In the context of a market economy and increasingly fierce competition in the entertainment industry, attracting, training, and nurturing young talent is a vital task. The theatre has been proactively developing a strategy to rejuvenate its artistic workforce, from selecting and providing in-depth training in puppet control techniques to entrusting challenging roles and new production projects to young talents.
Deeply aware of the spirit of Resolution No. 28/2026/QH16 of the National Assembly on the development of Vietnamese culture in reforming the organizational and management system, and improving the quality and efficiency of public service units, the Theatre recognizes that it is impossible to expect artists to dedicate themselves purely out of passion without ensuring a good material life for them. Thanks to a strategy of expanding economic and cultural linkages (signing long-term contracts with businesses) and optimizing the efficiency of the nationwide performance venue system, the Theatre has proactively increased revenue, thereby committing to ensuring remuneration, improving income, and enhancing the living standards of its staff, especially young artists. “When income is guaranteed to be commensurate with the sweat and tears shed behind the velvet curtain, artists can cast aside the burden of making a living, work with peace of mind, and wholeheartedly nurture the flame of passion and dedicate themselves to the traditional profession,” emphasized People's Artist Nguyen Tien Dung.
Source: https://www.qdnd.vn/van-hoa/doi-song/giu-lua-dam-me-tu-nhung-khuc-go-vo-tri-1047336
