LookAtVietnam – Drama troupes from Japan and China will perform in Viet Nam during November at the invitation of the Le Quy Duong Theatre.

Modern twist: The Japanese theatrical troupe, the Tokyo Engeki Ensemble, performed Bertold Brecht’s The Good Person of Sichuan earlier this year.

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, by well-known Japanese writer Yukio Mishima, will be performed by the Ikenoshita Theatre while the Zhejiang Beijing Opera will introduce King Oedipus under directors Lu Ang and Weng Guosheng.

Earlier foreign art troupes invited to the theatre included the UK’s TNT Theatre which introduced Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet to appreciative audiences in the capital and also HCM City.

Many people had said the theatre would suffer a loss by inviting foreign artists but it made a profit on tickets sales.

“I targeted students of international schools where the show is taught,” Duong said. “The young people are fond of learning and speaking English. We were happy tickets sold out days before the shows, despite a high price of VND500,000.”

The TNT Theatre is booked to return at the end of the year to perform A Christmas Carol, a drama by famous British writer Charles Dickens.

Duong wants to establish a theatre for foreign-language shows in HCM City.

“I want a standard theatre which will welcome standard audiences,” he said. “This way, foreign art troupes will get more opportunities to performed good theatrical works from throughout the world.

Le Quy Duong Theatre was more fortunate than the Youth Theatre, a pioneer in inviting foreign art troupes to Ha Noi.

Recently, a 30-member troupe from the Tokyo Engeki Ensemble performed German writer Bertold Brecht’s The Good Person of Sichuan in the capital.

The troupe intended to sell tickets for charity but was convinced the show would not charm Vietnamese audiences and performed free in Ha Noi, Hue city and HCM City with a view to showing a good theatrical work, said Truong Nhuan, the Youth Theatre’s deputy director.

The performance tour did not incur high costs because of a simple but creative stage, Nhuan said.

The ensemble aims to realise Brecht’s dream of providing theatre to modern societies and had performed the show more than 250 times throughout the world.

The play tells the story of a poor girl rewarded for sheltering gods, whose faith in humanity would be restored if the girl can maintained her goodness.

Two months ago, the Youth Theatre hosted the Beijing Children Art’s Theatre when it performed The Dragon Child.

The performance required 3.5 tonnes of stage props and equipment transported from China. The theatres shared the estimated tour costs of VND500-600 million, about a third of which was for equipment transport.

“On the Children’s Day, June 1, the show sold out despite the high price. But we set up four performances,” said Nhuan. “Sales met about 20 per cent of the total cost.”

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News