People’s Artist painter Phan Phan paints in his studio. The artist said he fell into set design by accident.

A painter who has devoted his life to stage design says it wouldn’t have happened if it hadn’t been for a certain bird.

The elderly man is often seen around town - well-dressed, and with a bag packed full of heavy tools hanging on his shoulder.

Many young directors who have worked with Phan Phan say he is very “open-minded” despite his old age. He is always ready to learn new things to be more creative at work.

These days, Phan Phan stays at his studio in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 8 teaching his students. He says that training young stage designers to replace him and his fellow-designer Luong Dong for the southern theater industry is the most practical thing he can do with his days.

Chicken salad

Like other senior citizens, Phan Phan, whose real name is Phan Dat Truong, has stories to tell about his youth.

Asked about his love life, Phan Phan shakes his head, saying: “No, I had only one [his wife] and no longer…”

He said he was not a “playboy” in his youth.

His favorite story is about how he started designing stages. It was because of a chicken.

In 1954, Phan Phan was a 21-yearold student of the Gia Dinh Fine Arts Practice University in Saigon who could draw cartoons, which he often submitted unsuccessfully to newspapers.

Finally he got lucky when the now defunct Saigon Moi (New Saigon) newspaper called him up. The paper’s cartoonist had demanded a rise in salary and threatened to quit the job. The manager noticed Phan’s comic strips and asked how much he sold them for. The student said the newspaper could decide the price since he was a student and had never sold stories before. The manager said they would pay him the same amount as the previous artist.

“At that time, I spent 450 dong a month on meals,” Phan Phan recalled. “But the newspaper paid me 4,500 dong. It’s was so huge!”

Since the newspaper owner’s son adored a famous cai luong (traditional Southern folk opera) artist then, he wanted to organize a cai luong performance to win her heart. Phan Phan was assigned to design the stage. It was in 1960, one year after he graduated, and he was looking at a promising career as a newspaper cartoonist.

But Phan Phan’s main job at the time was at an advertising company where he had a secret crush on a secretary.

To celebrate the success of the play, the Saigon Moi owner’s son invited Phan Phan to eat chicken salad at a restaurant behind the theater. They ordered the dish at 11 a.m. and waited until 1 p.m. when they saw the restaurant owner walk into the kitchen with a chicken. After the salad, the young painter went to his advertising job late – where he was severely reprimanded by his “dream girl.” He got furious and quit.

Through an acquaintance, Phan Phan went to work as a stage designer for the Thanh MinhThanh Nga Troupe, the most famous cai luong troupe in the South in the 60s and he has never looked back and all because of a chicken.

So much for the dream girl - he married a woman in the troupe.

In the 1980s, the troupe faced great financial difficulties. During a tour to the southern province of Tay Ninh Province, they invited local officials to see their show. It was time to draw the curtains but no one appeared. After fidgeting for a while, some of the audience went to find out what was happening. They found the whole troupe had forgotten the show, and were busy catching crickets to eat.

Phan Phan laughs after telling the story. He says he has forgotten many things but could never forget that.

In a career that has spanned two centuries Phan has designed sets for more than 600 plays and cai luong and won many national prizes. He was awarded the titles of “Meritorious Artist” in 1997 and “People’s Artist” in 2007 by Vietnam’s government.

Reported by Quang Thi