On a busy winter day, the reporter had a meeting with Ms. Tran Thi Mai Anh (46 years old), an artist working at the Thang Long puppetry Theater.
puppet actors work half a day, take half a day off
In a small house on Quan Thanh Street (Ba Dinh, Hanoi), Ms. Mai Anh is busy with housework. In the morning, she spends time with her mother and two children. In a living room of less than 20 square meters, she hung out photos and achievements associated with her career.
Ms. Mai Anh's work at the Thang Long puppetry Theater started at 1pm. The characteristic of the water puppet acting profession is that there are no days off, even on holidays and Tet. On days when there are performances for children or tour groups ordering plays, the whole puppet troupe has to work overtime in the morning or midnight.
Therefore, Mai Anh did not have much time to take care of her children. For many years, even at parent meetings at school, she has had to ask to be absent.
"Everything that needs to be done during the day has to be focused on in the morning. My mother used to love her daughter and didn't want me to work hard. But over time, she understood that it was my passion, so she always encouraged me.
But when my son also wanted to pursue a career in dance, I hesitated. I have worked hard and suffered because of pursuing the art of the straight boat. Knowing that I had not agreed, my child just waited for me to sleep to bring the dancing shoes to the living room to practice. I can't stop my child, because everyone has the right to happiness and to do the job they love," said Ms. Mai Anh.
After finishing cooking and cleaning the house, Ms. Mai Anh started building two communication channels and coordinating the activities of a social charity organization she participated in.
The income from water puppetry is not enough to cover spending with a living standard in Hanoi, causing Ms. Mai Anh and many colleagues to take advantage of doing extra work such as online trading and private business due to limited time.
Behind the bamboo curtain
During the time of COVID-19, performing activities were "frozen", the theater closed, actors like Mai Anh were almost unemployed, without income because they had not yet turned their careers.
Ms. Mai Anh decided to open a pig cake stall right in front of the door. Recalling the time when she sold the pig cakes, she confided: "At first, I sold pig cakes, I was confused and had such a low opinion that I could not cut the pig cakes. A few times I was confused because of a fight, I was frustrated because of a bottle of fish sauce ordered by customers... But then I got used to it, I went from a bad cook to a cook, it was true that when this door closed, another door would open".
Later, when the theater reopened, she returned with passion, because she said that if she had not been able to "swamm", she would miss her job and be confused.
Following Ms. Mai Anh to the Thang Long puppetry Theater in an afternoon of work, she saw the hardships and disadvantages that water puppet actors had to go through every day.
On the long bench, many actors sat preparing for the play, in front of a long line of rubber outfits with a fragrant smell of moisture due to the weather. She wore 2-3 layers of clothes, wore rubber clothes, and was ready for a shift lasting from 2am to 11am.
Thang Long puppet theater was once famous as a rare theater open 365 days a year. Ms. Mai Anh shared that thanks to the support of tourists, the theater has 6-8 performances per day, creating a stable job for the actors.
Soaking in water almost all year, she said that puppet actors often have a series of "common diseases" such as low joints, hand, foot and foot fungus, spinal cord pain due to being able to bend a lot, muscle atrophy due to water pressure... "Based behind the bamboo curtain, no one knows who we are, what our faces are like. I often joke with colleagues, this job does not require beautiful appearances, because they never show their faces," said Ms. Mai Anh.
Meritorious Artist Bach Quoc Khanh was also busy behind the scenes, reading the lines in a cheo voice while dancing to puppets as heavy as dragons and boat racing. He humorously commented, "Who says that the puppet actors are ugly, seeing us wearing tight clothes looks like Sun Queen".
The only moment the puppet actress shone was at the closing ceremony. They wore sweaters and quarter- body shirts on the outside of rubber outfits, waving to greet the audience for about 10 seconds.
