Waterpuppets displayed in Performance Gallery

Performance Gallery was developed at Brighton Museum in response to the excellent collections which relate to performance. The gallery opened in 2002 and an installation of waterpuppets from Vietnam is featured as one of seven puppet traditions from around the world.

The display: Grouped as fisherfolk, agricultural workers and mythical creatures, the puppets are displayed on a dark glass surface, giving the impression of the water surface they would have performed on. On the backdrop, a graphic silhouette of the puppeteer - waist deep in water, he manipulates one of the puppets at the end of a long rod. A video of a BBC documentary about Vietnamese water puppets provides constant sound and magic of the performance.

	Waterpuppet manipulator, gallery graphic

Gallery label reads:
Music, firecrackers and smoke bring these dramas to life on a shimmering stage of water. Once performed on a village pond they now travel the world.

Water provides the magic and hides the mechanism of the puppet. In Vietnam today schools teach this art, once jealously guarded and passed down only from father to son.

Teu, as master of ceremonies, sits on the buffalo. He introduces many colourful characters, each one will perform their own story - from the mythical and legendary to the ordinary and everyday.

Find out more about the Performance Gallery at Brighton Museum