Open-air art programme «81 Mùa Bình Yên» («81 Peaceful Seasons»)

   The stage is the street itself. On this Saturday evening the walking street along Hoan Kiem Lake becomes an open-air theatre, and you watch it standing on the pavement with everyone else — no tickets, no numbered seats.

   In brief:

• — directed by Truong Bac, a Meritorious Artist of Vietnam;
• — singers: Duong Hoang Yen, Nguyen Tran Trung Quan, Hoang Hong Ngoc;
• — hosted by Hong Nhung and Hanh Phuc;
• — staged by the Hanoi police together with the Hanoi Drama Theatre and the Vietnam National Opera and Ballet;
• — broadcast live on ANTV and H1.

   What makes it unusual is the cast: more than a hundred serving Hanoi police officers perform alongside professional artists in a production that mixes drama, music, dance, film and projection, telling the city's story from the autumn of 1945 to the present. The staging runs along the length of the street rather than sitting inside a single frame, so the action moves and you move with it.

   Three daytime activities open on the same street from 8am: a travelling photo exhibition on 81 years of the Hanoi police; the mounted police unit riding from the main stage down to Lo Su street, where you can walk up and take photographs with the horses; and a military brass band playing outdoors.

   Organisers expect more than 5,000 invited guests, with the rest of the space left open to residents and visitors. Come early if you want to stand anywhere near the stage — the lakeside fills fast on evenings like this.

   If you are in Hanoi that Saturday, this is the easiest way to watch the city celebrating itself.