VietNamNet Bridge – Fourteen theatres will participate in the first national trial stage festival at the Hanoi-based Kim Ma Theatre from December 1-8.

A scene from a drama which will attend the upcoming experimental stage festival.

People’s Artist, actor Trong Khoi, Chairman of the Vietnam Stage Art Association, the chief organiser, said that following two successful international experimental stage festivals, the association will organise this domestic festival every two years.

“The way of expression in drama in Vietnam is very poor. Sometimes we watch ten dramas but it seems that we have only seen one. This is contrary to the world’s stages. With one script, we can watch ten different dramas,” Khoi said.

People’s Artist, stage director Doan Hoang Giang said: “I saw abroad that artists rode several Harley Davidson motorbikes on stage, even cars. The stage moved continuously. In Vietnam, we still use a curtain on small, ordinary stages. Actors still use stylised movements to show they are riding horses or rowing boats.”

The festival will showcase new and experimental works through which the organisers hope to encourage new conceptions and new ways of expression. People’s Artist Doan Hoang Giang said the organisers accept “creativeness which pleases the audience and also creativeness that annoys them, because this is experimental”.

(Source: Tien Phong)