Vietnam plays

Honored Artist Hong Van, the owner of the private Phu Nhuan Stage, initiated this idea and she joined hands with two young drama directors, Duc Thinh and Thai Hoa, to write scripts and arrange the two plays.

Hong Van said she has nurtured this idea for a long time but now she is able to turn it into reality. She has submitted this scheme to the local Department of Culture and Information and received the agency’s support.

“Water puppetry, tuong, cheo and cai luong have been introduced to foreign visitors so there is no reason that drama, which is imported into Vietnam from overseas, can’t come to foreign visitors,” Hong Van said.

Through folk short plays Hong Van hopes to help foreign visitors to further understand the land they visit.

She said she has sent the scripts of the two first plays to a Vietnamese American translator to transform the humor, interest and sophistication in Vietnamese folk language into English. She believed that young actors of Phu Nhuan Stage can speak English well. Van’s children, Xi Ngau and Tre Phi, will play in these dramas.

“Short, humorous, and easy to understand are the goals that we want to achieve in the two first plays,” Hong Van said.

Hong Van is working with the Hcm city Department of Tourism to bring foreign visitors to her stage. It is scheduled that the first show will be held at the Rex hotel

HCM City currently has the Golden Dragon Stage, a private water puppetry stage for foreign visitors established by artist Huynh Anh Tuan, which is running very well.

In 2006, the local Department of Culture and Information assisted Tran Huu Trang Cai Lluong Theatre to combine with the Department of Tourism to arrange a cai luong program for visitors but this program failed.

The Theatre’s Director Phan Quoc Hung said the theatre invested VND70-80 million in this show but it failed and he didn’t know why.

“We would have not lost tens of millions VND if we received better guidance from the Department of Culture and Information and better combination from the Department of Tourism. If we still have a chance, we are willing to resume it,” Hung added.

(Source: VNE)