Tran
Huu Trang Theatre’s cai luong (reformed theatre) shows offered old stories in a
modern style for HCM City theatre fans during Tet (Lunar New Year).

One of the shows
featuring the play Da Chien Pha Song Ngan (Fighting on the Ngan River) describes
parents’ love and sacrifices for their children.

The work, written by
Nam Chau, has been staged many times, attracting veteran performers such as
Thanh Sang, Kim Tu Long and Phuong Lien.

In the version
rewritten by Nguyen Thanh Chau, Tran Huu Trang invited young director Vu Minh to
offer something new for fans.

Minh asked his young
actors, including Trinh Trinh, Vo Minh Lam, Thanh Loan and Hoøng Quyen, to work
hard to create a new style of cai luong singing and dancing.

He used beautiful
clothes as well as light and sound effects to dazzle audiences.

“During the previous
Tet, we often staged plays featuring social problems in a modern style to meet
young fans’ demands,” said Phan Quoc Hung, director of the theatre.

“But this year we
decided to provide a very old style of cai luong helping youth discover the
music’s nature,” he said.

The VND500 million
(US$22,000) play’s financial success showed that Hung and others had made a wise
decision.

During the Tet
holiday, several thousand people visited District 5’s Thu Do Theatre to discover
the beauty of cai luong. The tickets have sold out for the next month.

In District 1, Kim
Chau Stage introduced a series of extracts from famous plays like Hoa Moc Lan
Tong Chinh (Mulan Enlists in the Army).

The play, directed by
Tran Ngoc Giau, featured cai luong stars Vu Luan, Tu Suong and Thanh Thanh Tam.

Luan and his younger
colleagues also performed Ong Tao (Kitchen God), a comedy featuring dances and
songs based on traditional legends.

“We will travel to
remote areas in the Cuu Long (Mekong) River Delta region to stage our shows next
week because we want to entertain poor farmers and children who have fewer
entertainment choices than their urban counterparts,” said Luan, one of the
city’s most talented performers.

“Most of our shows in
the city offer tickets at VND150,000- 500,000 each. They cost only VND10,000 for
people who live in rural areas,” he said.

Like other traditional
art troupes, Hung’s theatre receives about VND1 billion from the Government to
run the company.

“We face many
challenges in offering a stable income to our performers and staging quality
plays,” Hung said.

He said he hoped that
local companies and organisations would offer more financial support to the
city’s traditional music troupes.

VietNamNet/Viet
Nam News