Traditional Cultural Performance at Thăng Long Imperial Citadel Celebrating the 43rd anniversary of the Liberation of the South and Reunification of the Country (30 April 1975 – 30April 2018) and International Labour Day (1 May)
On the occasion of the 43rd anniversary of the Liberation of the South and Reunification of the Country (30 April 1975 – 30April 2018) and International Labour Day (1 May), at the Thăng Long Imperial Citadel World Heritage Site (19 Hoàng Diệu Street, Ba Đình District, Hà Nội), the Thăng Long – Hà Nội Heritage Conservation Centre works with the Centre for the Preservation and Development of Vietnam’s Theatrical Arts, the Central Puppetry Theatre, UNESCO Centre for the Development of Sports and Culture to organize a programme of traditional cultural and martial arts performance to serve the sightseeing public and promote the huge cultural and historical values of the Thăng Long Imperial Citadel as well as the precious intangible values of the nation.
Water puppet shows at Thăng Long Imperial Citadel appeal to many children.
This original and appealing art programme is designed with a lot of efforts, combining harmoniously between light, folk music and dances, various types of water-based and land-based puppetry such as hand puppets, stick puppets, shadow puppets, masked puppets. The programme is to take place in a space of traditional puppet stage of Vietnam.
Water puppetry is a traditional art established long ago and closely linked to the wet water civilization of Vietnam. The origninality of this type of art lies in the use of water surface as the stage for the movement of the puppets. The puppet shows represent a true-to-life picture of the labour and production activities of the Vietnamese people.
In the art of water puppetry, music plays an important role. Chèo, the traditional form of popular melodrama typical of the Red River Delta in Northern Vietnam, is used as a link between different shows. Music can also influence the overall ambience of the whole performance, helping to depict the personalities of the characters represented by the puppets. This is an element that appeals strongly to the audience.
Male and female singers performing traditional duets “quan họ”.
Performance schedule in April 2018 and on red-letter days (30 April and 1 May):
- Weekends: 15:30 Sunday afternoons of 15 April and 22 April 2018.
- Red-letter days (30 April and 1 May)
Folk performance programme: two shows per day, at 10:00 and 16:00 on 29 April, 30 April and 1 May 2018.
Traditional culture and sports exchange programme: 9:00 on 30 April 2018.
Also on this occasion, Thăng Long Imperial Citadel host various other exhibition activities, such as “Reunification Day” which take place from 24 April 2018 to 30 May 2018, “Imperial Exams at Thăng Long Citadel under the Lê Dynasty, the height of Confucian academic exam system of Vietnam” (from 24 April 2018 to 1 July 2018); exhibition of the characters in the cartoon series Les Schtroumpfs (Belgium) which takes place from 26 April 2018 to 4 June 2018.
Thu Trang
Thăng Long – Hà Nội Heritage Conservation Centre
