Teu, Master of Ceremonies Water Puppet

The figure of Teu is the master of ceremonies and a comic who announces the programmes. He has a detachable head and arms that can be moved by means of a nylon string that is pulled from below the figure. His role as a peasant in charge of the proceedings undermines conventional social hierarchies and creates a link between the audience and the characters. The origins of water-puppetry are thought to date to the 12th century although it is possible that it was a folk art that developed even earlier in the rice-farming villages of north Vietnam.