Behind the Tuong and Folk Opera Festival: The attraction of traditional theater

The enduring vitality of Tuong art

A scene from the play Co Than at Binh Dinh Theater. Photo: Luong Van

At the National Tuong and Folk Opera Festival, 9 excellent Tuong plays from famous theaters from North to South showed the audience the quintessence of Tuong stage art. The unique joys, angers, loves and hates in Tuong were distilled and brought to the stage so that the audience could enjoy the best and most beautiful aspects of this unique and long-standing art form of the country's traditional theater.

A scene from the play "The Swan Dress". Photo: DVCC

Participating in this Tuong Theatre Festival are 9 plays, the plays tend to be classical in style with historical stories discussing national affairs bearing the heroic echoes of examples of loyalty to the country, self-sacrifice for the greater good, lessons on the moral character of heroes in contradictory and conflicting situations such as "The Story Outside the Official History of Being a King" by the Vietnam Tuong Theatre (won the Festival's Gold Medal), "Emperor Le Dai Hanh" by the Thanh Hoa Province Traditional Arts Theatre (won the Silver Medal)... Most of these plays have a unique aesthetic feature, which is tragic - heroic. There are also plays with the color of love between couples through the historical story of My Chau - Trong Thuy in the play "The Swan's Coat" by the Ho Chi Minh City Hat Boi Art Theatre (won the Silver Medal) - playwright Le Duy Hanh and young director Dong Ho with the content about the love between My Chau and Trong Thuy. A Tuong work, based on the characteristics of Tuong but with a modern feel, easily accessible to young audiences.

Through talking with some directors and actors of Tuong, we know: To understand and feel the beauty of this unique art, one must grasp the extremely concise and symbolic stage language of Tuong, expressing space and time in a unique way. Usually, a good actor of Tuong may not have much difficulty switching to acting in spoken drama or can easily act in films. But the opposite is true, when an actor in another art form finds it difficult to quickly act in Tuong. The dialogue and choreography of a Tuong actor are extremely important factors. This must be learned carefully, and one must have passion to train oneself in the subtle aspects of Tuong.

Good news from the Festival

A scene from the folk play The Stork in the Storm. Photo: Luong Van

It can be seen that at this Tuong and Folk Opera Festival, there are many creative and new plays from veteran authors and directors, from the scenery to the art of makeup. In particular, the way of mask makeup, dancing follows the principle of "internal and external correlation, left and right correspondence, upper and lower compatibility"; singing follows the way of speaking, music follows the principle of manner, all strictly follow the rules of yin and yang art. The elements of singing, dancing, and music are developed in harmony with the acting art of the actors. The overall combination of these elements brings special aesthetic emotions to the audience, helping them feel the sophistication of Tuong and Folk Opera art.

People's Artist Hong Luu won the Festival Gold Medal for her role as the female district chairwoman in The Stork in the Storm by the Provincial Traditional Arts Center. Photo: Luong Van

Through the characters, the plays conveyed humane messages, guiding people towards a healthy society and noble virtues. In addition to the unique Tuong stage, the plays of the theaters also brought warm and fresh flavors to the Folk Song Drama of this Festival. A typical example is the play "Canh Stork Trong Storm" by the Nghe An Province Traditional Arts Center, about a female district chairwoman who dares to think, dares to do, dares to take responsibility when promoting creative ideas to benefit the people, daring to eliminate conservative and stagnant ideas. "Canh Stork Trong Storm" also mentions family affection with love and sharing.

There are many conflicts and hatreds in the play, but with the novel and humorous staging of People's Artist Le Hung, the dramatic conflicts are resolved gently, without any fiery confrontations, but only humanity, love, friendship, and colleague love, truly touching the emotions of the audience. Or the play "Vang Sang" also by Nghe An Province Traditional Arts Center, with the familiar theme of fighting corruption, but built in a soft and humane way. Although people make mistakes, deep down there are thoughts of humanity, behaving kindly and chivalrously... Although the play "Vang Sang" only won the Silver Medal, it left many deep impressions in the hearts of the audience, thanks to the acting talent of Meritorious Artist An Ninh, Meritorious Artist Duc Lam, Meritorious Artist Minh Thanh...

Although the play Vang Sang only won a silver medal, it left a deep impression on the public. Photo: Luong Van

16 plays in 2 art forms participated in this festival, the artists showed their talent and creativity in each character, each play. There were 31 gold medals awarded to outstanding artists, showing that their hard work and training over a long period of time was duly rewarded. People's Artist Hong Luu - who won the gold medal for the role of the female president in "Canh Stork Trong Storm" said: "To have a good role, the artist must not only carefully research the character but also truly transform. For several weeks, we lived in the character, even after performing, we still spent a lot of time "letting go of the role". To have a good character, of course, there must be a good script, a good director, so this is the success of the whole collective, the whole crew".

Besides the veteran artists who have contributed a lot to the traditional stage of the country such as People's Artists: Hong Luu, Minh Tue, Anh Duong, Nguyen Van Thuy, Le Van Quy, there are also many promising young artists. However, many artists are concerned: "Although there are a few emerging faces, in general, the traditional stage of the country is in great need of newness and adaptation from the younger generation. Although the training has been planned for many years, not many young people dare to come to the stage and devote themselves to it, many talented people cannot last long because of worries about making ends meet...".

However, through the festival, the stage lights up and the audience comes to good plays, lighting up new hopes and beliefs about the longevity and growth of the country's traditional theater.