HẢI PHÒNG  The Hải Phòng Open Puppetry Festival 2024 kicked off as a part of the 11th Red Flamboyant Festival of Hải Phòng in May, aiming to promote the cultural and historical heritage values of the city and improve its appeal to tourists.

NO STRINGS: A puppet troupe performs at the opening ceremony of Hải Phòng Open Puppetry Festival 2024. Photo anhp.vn

The event aims to preserve and promote the unique cultural value of the art of traditional puppetry of the Vietnamese people, as a part of the Hải Phòng Red Flamboyant Festival with the theme  Hải Phòng – Bừng Sáng Miền Di Sản (Hải Phòng – The Heritage Region Bright Ups).

"The Hải Phòng Open Puppetry Festival 2024 showcases the artistic essence of Việt Nam's puppetry and the art and water puppetry of Hải Phòng City in particular. The city wants to turn this event into an annual cultural and tourist attraction, establishing Hải Phòng as the centre for the nation's cultural and artistic values," Nguyễn Thị Thu Thủy, director of the Hải Phòng Puppet Art Troupe, said at the opening ceremony.

The festival also promotes artistic exchange, creating opportunities to connect cultural heritage with localities across the country.

Trần Thị Hoàng Mai, director of the Hải Phòng Department of Culture and Sports, said the event was key to the work of developing culture and arts in Hải Phòng City, and appreciated how it valued, promoted and invested in all types of tangible and intangible cultural heritage.

Leading puppet theatres in Việt Nam joined the festival, including the Việt Nam Puppet Theatre, the Thăng Long Puppet Theatre in Hà Nội, the Hải Phòng Puppet Art Troupe, the Puppet Troupe of Ninh Bình, and the Quảng Ninh Puppet Theatre.

As well as professional puppetry troupes, the festival has participants from ancient wards from numerous localities, such as Nhân Hòa Puppet Troupe in Hải Phòng City, Thanh Hải Water Puppet Troupe in Hải Dương Province and Nam Chấn Countryside River Water Puppet Troupe in Nam Định Province. 

Puppet theatres and performers bring to the festival all manner of distinctive and colourful shows from many different puppetry genres, such as water puppets, string puppets, stick puppets, and mask puppets.

"I feel very excited because every troupe and theatre group has distinctive and creative puppet show for the audience. I hope there will be more programmes like this so that audiences, not only in Hải Phòng City but nationwide, will come to know the quintessence of puppetry art," Nguyễn Xuân Long fromThăng Long Puppet Theatre, told VOV.

The festival takes place until May 12, at the City Theatre Square and Hàng Kênh Communal House in Lê Chân District, Hải Phòng City.  VNS