VietNamNet Bridge – The Festivities Hall of Reunification Palace on Tuesday night was witness to the trials and tribulations of Vuong Thuy Kieu, a character from Viet Nam’s most famous epic poem.

Prose and posture: A scene from The Tale of Kieu features two main characters, Thuy Kieu and Kim Trong.

A feudal-style gate erected in the middle of the hall served as an effective back-drop, with the audience lining the room and circling the stage.

Composed by national poet Nguyen Du, Truyen Kieu (The Tale of Kieu) and the protagonist Thuy Kieu have become icons in Vietnamese literature and deeply embedded in the mentality of generations of Vietnamese since its publication in the late 18th century.

Truyen Kieu is a heartbreaking cry against social injustice, with Kieu embodying, beauty, virtue, talent and an especially sensitive soul. The play also addresses individual emancipation from feudal constraints and Confucian values that impose restrictions on Kieu’s love for a man.

This is the first time in Viet Nam that Truyen Kieu was staged for foreigners. The performance used an innovative blend of orchestra, pop music, dancing and cai luong (reformed theatre which appeared in the south at the beginning of the previous century).

Elaborate costumes, scenic backdrops, and elegant choreography were combined with stunning lighting effects.

In cai luong, actors rarely speak. Instead, the story was told through both pop and cai luong songs, as well as dancing and simple body language. Handouts detailing the storyline also guided the audience’s understanding.

The Western music blended perfectly with the sentimental cai luong songs, many of them sung to express the characters’ innermost feelings.

Techniques peculiar to Vietnamese theatre were also used. For example, when Kim Trong (Thuy Kieu’s sweetheart) waved a tasselled rod, it meant that he was riding a horse.

Given the hall’s narrow space, the distance between audience and artists created an intimate feeling, which is also a characteristic of Vietnamese theatre.

The play’s major scenes were clearly divided to ease understanding for the foreign audience. It was also shortened considerably, to 75 minutes, from the performance given two years ago.

Graeme Swift, the new Australian consul general to HCM City, said he “would recommend the play to his friends and colleagues because it provided “insight about the country, its people and culture”.

He said he understood the connection between Vietnamese and Chinese culture and why “Vietnamese take deep pride in Truyen Kieu and Nguyen Du”.

Hoa Ha was the play’s director, Tran Vuong Thach the music composer and Kim Qui the choreographer. The performance was invitation-only for the business and diplomatic community.

If the response from the audience is positive, the director says she will stage the play again in HCM City.

(Source: Viet Nam News)