The 'unique' water puppetry troupe in the West

At nearly 10 p.m. on the last day of November, the actors of the Green Coconut Water Puppetry Troupe gathered behind the stage of the Brass Band and Puppetry Festival at September 23 Park (HCMC) to prepare props.

This is the second night they attend the festival, but due to changes, the show schedule instead of 7pm had to be postponed until near the end of the show. Next to the prop box, Mr. Nguyen Tien Hoa (Ba Hoa), 68 years old, took the opportunity to use screws to fix the loose joints of the puppets. He is the oldest actor in the troupe, and also the director, originally from the Ben Tre Cai Luong troupe.

Students enjoy watching the water puppet show "Fighting fox and catching duck". Photo: Hoang Nam

Passionate about water puppetry, in 1988, Mr. Hoa left the Cai Luong troupe, sold 6 taels of gold and went to the capital to study the profession. Six months later, he returned to work at the old Hau Giang province puppetry troupe. In 1990, he returned to his hometown to establish a water puppetry troupe. However, due to financial difficulties, the troupe had to disband after only 1.5 years. Mr. Ba then continued to work at the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism until 2019 when he retired.

At that time, Mr. Pham Tan Vu, 33 years old, an officer of Ben Tre Museum who also has a passion for water puppetry, met Mr. Ba and asked him to help establish a puppetry troupe. Having the opportunity to fulfill his unfinished dream of more than 30 years ago, Mr. Hoa immediately agreed.

The teacher and student spent more than 100 million VND out of their own pocket to buy nearly 30 puppets from Hanoi. They then asked around and recruited nearly 20 members who shared the same passion. In particular, there was a case where a husband and wife both participated in water puppetry.

From the traditional material of fig trees, which are light, easy to float, and rarely crack when crafted, the group then experimented with making puppets from quao water wood, which is abundant locally. Although quao wood is heavier, the wood is twice as durable as fig trees, and can be used for up to 3 years when carved by a machine.

Mr. Ba said that the number and names of the puppets were kept the same as the Northern tradition, but the costumes were changed to Ao Ba Ba and scarves to match the Southern tradition. Some parts of the puppets, such as the head frame and the body of the unicorn, were improved by him using iron bars wrapped in plastic pipes instead of rattan strings to increase durability.

In addition, according to the old artist, the puppets' lines are also inserted with Southern folk songs such as "Ly Chim Xanh", "Ly Con Khi", "Ly Keo Chai", and "Ho The Muc". In particular, the troupe has a performance "Luc Van Tien fights Phong Lai to save Kieu Nguyet Nga", based on the poem "Luc Van Tien" by Nguyen Dinh Chieu, a son of Ben Tre.

According to Mr. Ba Hoa, although this job is hard, it has many happy memories. One day, when the troupe was about to perform, they discovered that the prop ball had fallen off. Mr. Ba quickly found a dry coconut to replace it, and the "lion kicking ball" act was transformed into a lion kicking coconut act. Unexpectedly, the foreign guests were very excited. Another day, while performing the duck herding act, the ducks' rope broke and split into two. The voice actor quickly shouted "the ducks are falling apart", and the audience below was completely unaware of the incident and still applauded enthusiastically.

With about 10 minutes left until the show, Mr. Ba Hoa took the opportunity to move his arms and legs to warm up his body before he was about to soak in the water in the cold night sky. Even though he had a raincoat, the difficult performances such as the dragon dance and lion dance were still shirtless so that the performers could move more flexibly. "The most important thing is to satisfy your passion," Mr. Ba said.

Actor Le Thanh Hai checks the puppets before the performance. Photo: Hoang Nam

Joining the Green Coconut puppetry team at the age of 17 and being the youngest member, Le Thanh Hai said he used to be a driver, but learned lion dancing, drumming, and playing some traditional musical instruments, so he was invited to join the group.

New students will be taught to dance easy puppets like ducks and fish, then practice controlling more difficult puppets like dragons - long and heavy, requiring flexibility combined with technique and skill. After more than a month of training, the actors will know basic dancing. After 4 years, Hai is now the main actor of the troupe.

"For each performance, actors are paid 500,000 VND, but because it is seasonal work, we have to do other jobs to make enough money to maintain our passion," Hai said.

After 4 years of operation, the Coconut Land puppetry troupe has toured most of the provinces in the West, from schools to holidays, Tet, and anniversaries. On average, they have more than 10 performances per month, the longest play is 12 minutes, the shortest is 3 minutes. The troupe currently has more than 50 puppets serving about 15 plays, of which the largest is a dragon about 1.5 meters long, weighing nearly 2 kg.

Mr. Nguyen Hoai Anh, Director of Ben Tre Cultural and Cinema Center, said that this unit is temporarily lending a corner of the headquarters to the water puppet troupe to work and design the performance stage. "While the state does not have the conditions to invest, the efforts of young people to maintain the traditional art form are very valuable," Mr. Anh said.

According to Hoang Nam - VnExpress

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