Water Puppet

Item number 3127/9 a from the MOA: University of British Columbia.

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Description

Water puppet (mua roi nuoc) ball, made of a light metal, painted in a pinwheel design in colours of gold, red and green. An iron bar is bolted to the ball which allows it to rotate around a long, plain, wooden handling stick (see 3127/9 b).

History Of Use

Water puppets (mua roi nuoc / múa rối nước) are used in a unique form of rod puppetry found only in Vietnam. The stage is an enclosed pool of water, smoke and firecrackers burst over the surface and musicians play instruments in time to the puppets’ actions. In Vietnamese water puppetry, there are a series of short sequences or skits rather than a singular narrative. The skits are full of humour and satire and depict the folklore and culture, everyday lives, and comic misadventures of rural people, who work on the river and in the rice-paddy fields. There are also sequences that depict mythological characters, creatures, and tales, such as The Dance of the Princesses and Fairies and the Fabulous Unicorns (Ky Lan) Playing with a Ball (from Shadows, Strings & Other Things, 2019).

Narrative

Ball puppet used in water puppet performances of "Fabulous Unicorns Playing with Ball" or "Lions Playing with Ball". Collected in 1994, in Ho Chi Minh City, by Jason Schoonover and Susan Hattori. The puppets were collected from The Traditional Water Puppetry Troupe, operating out of the Historical Museum in Ho Chi Minh City.