The statement was made by People’s Artist Nguyen Tien Dung, Director of the Vietnam Puppetry Theater.

After having been invited to Festival Sziget (Hungary) - the Europe’s largest art festival, in August 2022, the Vietnam Puppet Theater made thorough preparations for the event. They had to bring 1.8 tons of performance equipment to Hungary. However, due to the pandemic, many shipping companies went bankrupt, so the equipment was transported by air to the host country despite high costs. Fortunately, the Vietnam Puppet Theater successfully performed at the festival.

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Vietnamese puppeteers performing in Thailand

The delegation of the Vietnam Puppet Theater continued their tour in Poland and Bulgaria, attracting the participation of many people. Mr. Tran Trong Hung, Vice President of the Vietnamese Association in Poland, Head of the Organizing Panel of the Vietnam Cultural Festival in Poland in 2022, said that Vietnamese expats in Poland felt excited. The Warsaw city’s authorities thanked the Vietnamese Association in Poland for bringing such a fantastic water puppetry performance to the city. Leaders of the country’s Ministry of Culture also attended the event and praised the unique culture of the Vietnamese people.

They traveled to Japan in September 2022 to attend the Vietnamese Cultural Festival in Kanagawa. This festival is held annually. Since 2017, except for two years of the pandemic, the theater has been to Japan and always warmly welcomed by the host country. The audience here loves and considers the theater artists as an integral part of the festival.

The audiences’ sentiment has affirmed the prestige of the theater. In each concert, they recorded and asked audiences for their comments and feelings so as to raise the quality of each performance. After the performances, audiences joined the exchange to learn more about water puppetry. Many of them even rented hotels or set up tents for a week near the performance area to watch Vietnamese puppetry every day.

All artists of the theater always treasure their opportunity to perform overseas. They feel proud and excited at the love from audiences.

People’s Artist Nguyen Tien Dung noted that, cultural promotion is the mission of a national theater. Therefore, the theater should be well-prepared for their tours overseas to bring the unique culture of the nation overseas while learning more experience from the world.

Translated by Minh Anh