Lune Production's Teh Dar premiered in 2015 as Vietnam's first contemporary circus company, founded by brothers Tuan Le and Nhat Le after years training with Phare Ponleu Selpak in Cambodia and studying physical theater across Southeast Asia.
The company's name derives from the Vietnamese word for moon, a deliberate echo of Hoi An's own lantern-lit heritage, and their debut work launched in a purpose-built bamboo theater on Nguyen Phuc Chu street in Minh An ward. What began as a 45-minute experiment in wordless storytelling now runs 60 minutes across six evenings each week, drawing sold-out houses throughout peak season.
The Teh Dar narrative follows a village fisherman's journey through loss and renewal, told entirely through acrobatics, contortion, juggling, and live percussion. No dialogue anchors the plot; instead, the nine-member ensemble uses their bodies and a shifting scaffold of bamboo poles to conjure storms, fishing nets, river currents, and the weight of grief. Choreographer Tuan Le cites influence from traditional Vietnamese water puppetry and the gestural economy of Japanese Butoh, but the vocabulary remains unmistakably contemporary. Performers balance atop meter-long poles, pass through human pyramids at speed, and execute partner lifts that defy the low ceiling of the 180-seat theater. The intimacy is intentional—audience members in the front row sit within arm's reach of the stage, close enough to hear breath and the creak of bamboo under load.
Lune Center's architectural footprint occupies a restored colonial townhouse with an open courtyard that functions as lobby and post-show gathering space. The theater itself is a black-box configuration with tiered seating on three sides, allowing sightlines that shift as performers move through the space. Lighting design by Nguyen Hai Yen uses minimal instrumentation—bare bulbs, candles, and handheld lanterns—to create shadows that enlarge and distort the acrobatic silhouettes. Hoi An bamboo circus tickets grant access to this hybrid form, a meeting point between European cirque nouveau and the physical tradition of Vietnamese street performance. Since 2020, Lune Production has expanded its programming to include workshops in acrobatics and clowning for local youth, turning the venue into a year-round training hub. The company tours domestically during monsoon months when Hoi An's tourism calendar slows, returning each autumn with revised choreography and new ensemble members drawn from the national circus school in Hanoi.
1 hr
