Doi cuoi (Laughing Life), a series of short comedies written by the Hanoi-based Tuoi Tre Theater.

A Hanoi troupe brings local culture to foreign audiences by staging Vietnamese plays in English – a challenging task in more ways than one.

Vietnamese over the last few years, but for the first time local artists are now doing the opposite by translating their favorite Vietnamese works into English.

The Hanoi-based Tuoi Tre (Youth) Theater opened its Doi cuoi (Laughing Life) series last March by translating Vietnamese plays into English and performing them as part of its Trinh dien voi the gioi (Perform to the World) project.

“Theater can help foreigners understand Vietnamese culture and perspectives,” said Tuoi Tre Theater Director Le Hung, adding that the company had never tried to woo foreigners before.

“We realized that we were missing out on international tourists and expats.”

Hung said Doi cuoi, a series of short comedies written and performed by Tuoi Tre now in its eighth incarnation, was a good way to start foreigners on Vietnamese theater.

“Doi cuoi is Tuoi Tre’s trademark series and has been popular for nearly a decade… why not translate it into English?” said Hung.

Hung said staging local plays in English has also created a great opportunity for the company “to move forward in a time of globalization.”

Tossed into translation

“We love the new challenge,” said Tuoi Tre actress Tu Oanh. “Helping foreigners understand Vietnamese arts and life, we also benefit by improving our English.”

But it is indeed a challenge.

Oanh’s colleague, actor Si Tien, said foreigners don’t always understand the “Vietnamese-isms” implied in the plays, even though they are translated into English.

“Choosing a play to stage for foreigners is a hard job,” said Hung.

“The differences in cultures and folklore prevent foreign audiences from understanding the plays if we keep them the same as the originals. A lot of times, the meanings and the features of the plays are implied and only those who have in-depth knowledge in Vietnamese folklore can catch the ideas.

“So, we try to stage plays that feature social perspectives and themes that people can find in every country to make it easy to understand, easy to ponder.”

Daniel Doering, a linguistics researcher who saw Tuoi Tre’s Qua song (Crossing the River) at the 2nd Perform to the World held last June, said he understood about 70 percent of the show.

“The actors’ body gestures helped me guess what they meant,” he said, adding that he laughed both when he understood and when he didn’t understand the jokes.

He said that while the actors did mispronounce words, he learned “a lot” about Vietnamese life through the play.

But audience member Catherine Hunt said she wished the play had showcased more Vietnamese culture.

She said she wanted to see “Vietnamese history and various cultural perspectives and how they influence people’s thoughts and actions.”

Tongue tied

Tien said the most difficult thing about performing the English plays was, of course, the language barrier.

“In order to act well, the actors must understand what they are saying… but while trying to remember difficult English scripts, sometimes we forget to act.”

Oanh said that though her English was better than most in the company, she still found the English scripts very difficult.

“I had to look up new words and even had to practice with my children.”

The company’s actors are taking classes with native-English speaking teachers at Apollo Schools, but Oanh said her children, who had studied since kindergarten, were still better than her.

Primary school teacher and Tuoi Tre audience member Thuy Anh said she had thought of trying to take her students on a field trip to see the plays.

“The English plays would be a good way for my students to learn English through entertainment. However, I’ll have to wait until the actors become fluent.”

Reported by Hoang Oanh