Việt Nam’s leading puppetry ensemble was established on 12 March 1956 on the instructions of President Hồ Chí Minh with the objectives of performance, research and creative development in the field of puppetry and preservation of Việt Nam’s ethnic puppetry traditions. Over the years it has developed a team of distinguished puppet practitioners and has also helped to set up other puppet companies in Hà Nội, Hải Phòng, Hồ Chí Minh City and Hà Nam. Its Director began studying the traditional water puppetry of Nguyên Xá and Nam Chấn villages in the northern provinces of Thái Bình and Nam Hà Provinces in 1984. Along with scriptwriter Văn Học and stage director Hoàng Luận he has since introduced a number of innovations to the company’s water puppetry repertoire. The company’s first foreign trip took them to France in 1984. Since that time they have performed all over the world, including Italy, the Netherlands, Australia, Japan, India, Britain, Germany, Belgium, Yugoslavia, Switzerland, Sweden, Columbia, Singapore, Poland, Canada and Denmark. For years the company has had a tough time attracting audiences to its premises due to inadequacy of facilities in comparison with the popular Thăng Long Puppet Company. However, in 2001 the company began a 7 billion VNĐ (cUS$450,000) refurbishment of its premises which will lead to the creation of Việt Nam’s largest puppetry venue. This will eventually include two 300-seat auditoria, one for water puppet performances and the second for other types of puppetry. The latter will be equipped with all the necessary technical facilities for black stage puppetry, marionettes, rod puppetry and shadow puppetry. A space will also be made available for exhibitions of puppetry and the techniques for constructing the puppets.