The 'historical footage' of a lifetime on the Nghe An drama stage
The Nghe An Provincial Center for Culture and Arts has always focused on investing in recreating the image of patriotic scholars through the ages. This is a difficult topic but also an endless source of inspiration for many generations of directors and actors.
Films about historical figures such as King Mai Hac De, Phan Boi Chau, Phan Dang Luu, General Vo Nguyen Giap, General Secretary Le Hong Phong and Secretary of the Saigon - Cho Lon Party Committee Nguyen Thi Minh Khai were created by generations of directors and actors of Nghe An Province Traditional Arts Center with all their passion and gratitude. These plays have won many national professional awards, but the biggest thing that remains is the unforgettable impression in the hearts of the audience. Because through the plays, the audience once again understands more clearly the great contributions and sacrifices of historical figures for the Vietnamese people through the ages.
In 2000, the play “Forever Faith” (Director: People's Artist Le Hung; Author: Le Duy Hanh; Adapted by: People's Artist Hong Luu; Music: Ho Huu Thoi) was officially released to the public, helping viewers understand the life, career and revolutionary activities of comrades Le Hong Phong and Nguyen Thi Minh Khai. What is special is that in the same year, the play won the Silver Medal at the National Professional Theatre Festival, affirming the position of Nghe folk songs in the hearts of the public and colleagues nationwide. The love, steadfast loyalty, and steadfast revolutionary spirit of the two revolutionary soldiers Le Hong Phong and Nguyen Thi Minh Khai were vividly and attractively recreated through the plays.
The play has highlights that create great emotions for the audience. To force the revolutionary Le Hong Phong, the French colonialists tortured his wife Nguyen Thi Minh Khai in hopes of getting Le Hong Phong to reveal his secret activities. But loyal to the Party, Le Hong Phong just kept silent and watched them brutally torture his wife... The excerpt also depicts the warm love between Le Hong Phong and Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, thereby sending the message that to have happiness, one must fight and their love is always linked to the struggle for independence and freedom of the country.
The play “Forever Faith” has participated in many professional theater festivals and performances nationwide. Every year, to celebrate the birthday of General Secretary Le Hong Phong, the play is rehearsed by the center’s artists as a tribute to the student of the great President Ho Chi Minh.
The play that also moved the audience was “General Vo Nguyen Giap, the general of the people” by director, People's Artist Le Hung. People's Artist Tran Minh Tue, who played General Vo Nguyen Giap, said: the idea of building this play came from the love, the incense offering to the General. General Vo Nguyen Giap was not only the son-in-law of Nghe An, but during his lifetime he loved Nghe An folk songs. The play is a touching story about a man who had a great influence on the army, who made historical decisions that led to glorious victories for the army and people of the whole country. The life, background, and career of “putting public service first” of the General according to the teachings of beloved Uncle Ho were successfully and emotionally portrayed by the cadres and actors of Nghe An Drama Troupe.
The play also depicts the very simple yet very noble feelings of the General. In his private life, he sacrificed his family, said goodbye to his young wife, young children... to follow the revolutionary fire to the day of victory. These precious details through the dialogue and vivid acting of the Vi and Giam opera genre left emotional moments in the hearts of the audience. Many audiences cried while watching this opera.
There are many plays depicting the image of patriotic revolutionary soldiers through many periods, such as "Dawn" by Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen The Ky - former member of the Party Central Committee, Chairman of the Central Council for Theory and Criticism of Literature and Art. "Dawn" recreates the life and career of revolutionary Phan Dang Luu (1902 - 1942) - a son of Hoa Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district. The play was elaborately staged by the Artistic Steering Committee of the Center for Preservation and Promotion of Nghe An Folk Heritage, with a bold and new form of expression. The work is both operatic and modern ballet, and uses a number of folk music melodies, especially Vi and Giam folk songs. The combination of lighting, LED screen images, modern musical instrument sounds with actors' performances, cultural space contexts of Nghe An, Hue, Hai Phong, Nam Bo... has been recreated realistically and vividly, helping viewers feel the breath of the country's historical atmosphere in the early 20th century, while creating associations in the viewer's perception with many tragic and heroic scenes, reflecting the country's history in the years before the August Revolution with many sacrifices and losses but containing profound humanistic and ideological meanings.
There is also the play “Nguyen Xi” by director Le Hung, depicting the image of Grand Tutor Cuong Quoc Cong Nguyen Xi. During his life as an official serving 4 Le kings for 37 consecutive years, from 1460 to 1497 (Le Thai To, Le Thai Tong, Le Nhan Tong and Le Thanh Tong), Grand Tutor Cuong Quoc Cong Nguyen Xi was not only a talented military general but also an outstanding mandarin. The good performances were performed by Meritorious Artist Minh Thong in an excellent way to transform the character of Nguyen Xi; that is the image of the Grand Tutor having to sacrifice his father-son relationship, pretending to be blind to show his loyalty, his noble heart towards the villagers where he retired to live in seclusion...
All the plays depicting the images of historical figures are carefully invested in by the Nghe An Traditional Arts Center and are performed by generations of actors with passion and enthusiasm, contributing to the great and lasting values of Nghe folk theater; as Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen The Ky once shared: Dramatizing historical films is what we are doing to nurture the eternal Nghe Tinh folk theater, while also contributing to educating the younger generation about historical values through recreating portraits of the country's heroes through the ages.