Water puppetry is one of typical stage art of Vietnam culture- showing the intelligence, creativeness of people; being the specialty of Vietnam’s wet - rice civilization.

Thang Long Puppet Theatre is a famous cultural place for domestic and foreign tourists. It is situated on Dinh Tien Hoang street. It provides the water puppet show which is unique Vietnam traditional art.  

The Theatre was established in October 1969 and now become the leading brand name of Vietnamese water puppetry. The Theatre has of preservation, maintenance, and development of the traditional water puppetry; confirm-reinforce its brand name; contribute a significant part to the advertisement and speed up the cultural and art exchange and cooperation in the world. There are often 5-7 shows every day to satisfy the demands of audiences.

The main content of water puppet show is about the daily life of Vietnamese farmers (cultivating, tending buffalo, catching fishes…), communal entertainment (swimming contest, dragon dancing…), or historical legends (Le Loi returns precious sword…). Performances are accompanied by a Vietnamese orchestra playing traditional music using drums, wooden bells, horns, bamboo flutes, and cymbals. There are also authentic Vietnamese operatic songs telling the story that is being acted out by the puppets.  And the main music used in the water puppetry performance is the music of Cheo which is the specific traditional art in the Northern plain.