Circus and puppetry show «Mơ Show» (Dreamscape Show)

   Seventy minutes of a weekend morning in Ho Chi Minh City: the stage floor opens into a real pool, puppets carry the story and acrobats fly above a hall of 2,000 seats. You need no background in circus or puppetry to follow it — everything is told through movement, light and music — and the 10am start leaves the rest of your day free.

   The production brings together about 150 performers, Vietnamese and international, across circus, rod and water puppetry, contemporary dance, traditional martial arts and choir. They follow a child named Mơ — Vietnamese for «dream» — from his first sense of light to the moment he can name his own emotions. Puppetry carries the narrative, the circus acts stand for the urge to push past limits, and 3D projection mapping opens up his inner world. Dương Thảo is general director, Quốc Công directs the circus acts, Trần Trí wrote the script, Trí Đức and Thu Thủy handle the puppetry, and the score draws on folk melodies of southern Vietnam.

   What happens across those 70 minutes:

• — aerial acrobatics, tightrope and rope work
• — artistic swimming and diving on the water stage
• — rod and water puppets driving the plot
• — lasers, fire effects, cold smoke and a magic-sphere sequence
• — a turn by international artist Osama Halley

   It is built for families with young children, but the staging holds up on its own if you come without them. The theatre stands on Lu Gia street in Phu Tho ward — the former District 11 — northwest of the centre, on the Tan Binh and airport side of town rather than the District 1 side.

   «Mơ Show» premiered on 12 June 2026 as the first production to open the Phu Tho Circus and Multi-purpose Theatre: fourteen floors, more than 57 m tall, built for nearly 1,400 billion VND, with a 2,000-seat main hall, a movable circular stage on a spiral lift and the ability to switch between a dry stage and a water stage. The show was commissioned by the city, funded by the Department of Culture and Sports and produced by the Ho Chi Minh City Arts Center to mark 50 years since Saigon–Gia Dinh was named after Ho Chi Minh.

   The first three performances drew more than 5,000 people; the 18 and 19 July shows sold over 1,700 tickets each, and the 25 July show over 1,600. Book ahead if you are coming as a group.

   A new run is on sale from 19 September to 31 October: performances at 10am every Saturday and Sunday, plus one evening show on Friday 25 September at 8pm, the Mid-Autumn full moon; doors open an hour before the show. Seating is split into five zones — D, C, B, VIP and A — from 350,000 to 1,200,000 VND. One thing to know before you choose: the B0 stand in zone B is steeply raked, and the organisers advise against it for children, pregnant women, older visitors and anyone uneasy with heights. There is no language barrier here — the story is told through puppetry, circus and movement rather than dialogue. Ticket questions go to [email protected].

   If you have been waiting for a reason to see what a purpose-built circus hall can actually do, this is the one.