(VOVworld) – Vietnamese audiences have been treated to an interesting performance by Japanese string puppeteers and Vietnamese artists from the Youth Theater. The play “Poisoned Wild Duck” has received public appreciation for its creativity and deep humanitarian values.

The play's director and performers

The play Poisoned Wild Duck is based on Norwegian Henrik Ibsen’s The Wild Duck from 1884. The play is directed by Japanese Sakate Yoji with the involvement of artists from the Marionette Theatre Youkiza and Vietnamese performers. Its theme is about man’s destruction of nature through such means as polluting the environment with chemicals and hunting animals. The story delivers a message that man’s destruction of nature is destroying the living environment for the present and future generations.

People's Artist Le Khanh performs with the marionettes

Director Yoji said the story was selected had been chosen to be performed in Vietnam because its language and meaning are suitable for both Vietnamese and Japanese audiences. The play has been adapted to contemporary life. “I chose the story “The Wild Duck” because of its interesting content. The main character Gina is especially suitable for People’s Artist Le Khanh. This has been the first cooperation between a Japanese Marionette Theatre and Vietnam’s Youth Theater. I hope it will win the hearts of Japanese and Vietnamese audiences and even people from other countries.”

People’s Artist Le Khanh says: “The playwright and director have altered the story and named it “Poisoned Wild Duck”. Director Yoji has seen in Henrich Ibsen’s story a matter of contemporary life. It’s protecting the environment. It’s about not an issue only for Vietnam or Japan, but the whole world.”

The play, involving marionettes and live actors, has many fantastic scenes to make people laugh as well as think. It’s a harmonious combination of Vietnamese actors and Japan’s 400-year-old marionette tradition. Mai Thu Huong is an audience: “This is the first time I have watched a Japanese puppet play, which is different from Vietnamese puppetry. The scenes change often. The actors, who are also the puppeteers, perform beautifully.”

Director Yoji said it was the first time they had put on a play involving marionettes and actors in Vietnam. They had considered many stories to suit this form of theater, which contains scenes from Hamlet and Japanese traditional Noh theater. “The Poisoned Wild Duck” will be performed at the Sibiu-Romania International Theater Festival in June.