Director Chanh Truc: Audiences need new spiritual food...

Reporter: What are your thoughts on attending the Busan Theater Festival - Korea?

Director Chanh Truc

- Director Chanh Truc: I feel honored and proud to attend the Busan Theater Festival - a very old festival in Korea. This is the 43rd theater festival and the play "Comrade" by author Le Thu Hanh, directed by People's Artist Tran Ngoc Giau - Quoc Thinh participated in 2 performances.

There is great national pride when the festival's participation list only has one play written in Vietnamese. "Comrade", the name is both natural and familiar. Personally, I did not think that a political play, specifically about the history of Vietnam in the post-war period, would be included in an international theater festival.

Taking on a role in the play "Comrade", what emotions linger in you?

- Playing the role of an old cadre in the play "Comrade", I acted as if I wasn't acting. Having been attached to the stage of the Small Stage Drama Theater (also known as Stage 5B) for decades, I specialize in playing old roles. It is my forte, so I play the role very smoothly. However, when playing this character, I have very different emotions. The role summarizes the history of the nation, the team spirit in combat, in peacetime. The feeling of heroic tragedy and national pride is already in my heart, so when it is touched, my emotions surge. I burst into tears when expressing the feelings of someone who has gone through war, experienced life and death in war alongside beloved comrades.

In order for political drama to enter life, in your opinion, how should the writing and staging methods be changed?

- I always thought the post-war topic was something strange, but in fact, in a country that has gone through two wars, there needs to be cultural and historical standards to illuminate and have the right way of behaving. Building cultural standards for today's generation is a huge challenge, especially in the current era of globalization.

Director Chanh Truc in a role. (Photo provided by the character)

I think political topics are always of interest, the problem is to write a good script to attract the public. The play "Comrade" conquers the audience because of its very rustic and simple staging but not lacking in experimentation and convention. The play also has highly entertaining, witty, and light-hearted scenes that make the audience laugh.

What do you worry about the current theater scene?

- The happiest thing is that there are more and more talented young actors gradually asserting themselves on stage. However, stage is still one step behind cinema. Partly because the influence of stage is not equal to cinema. There are quite a lot of young actors on stage but very few become phenomena in the entertainment industry. Maybe we need big plays with influence to create new stars for the city's stage.

.The stage is currently facing pressure to sell tickets. When you accept to stage and perform political plays with revolutionary themes, do you feel pressured?

- The stage is currently trending towards commercialization. There are entertainment stages serving the common audience. Therefore, serious plays, topical and political plays are still a challenge. Currently, many plays on revolutionary, political and historical themes have been proactively performed by artists at schools, cultural centers, industrial parks... In my opinion, to attract audiences to the drama stage, we must form a class of audiences who know how to appreciate. To do so, we must let the audience enjoy new, interesting and attractive spiritual dishes, from which we will form the class of audience that we desire. And to achieve this, we need the joint support of cultural managers.

According to experts, the policy of socializing the stage has created a stage for young actors, helping them express new artistic trends. However, training units move quite slowly in the practice stage, so many young actors do not have enough "inner strength" when participating in the stage.

Nowadays, many young actors own their own channels on social networks. They can promote their image through their "personal channels" to get noticed by directors and producers. However, this makes them fall into the trend of entertainment, popular, easy.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/dao-dien-chanh-truc-khan-gia-can-mon-an-tinh-than-moi-la-hap-dan-196250405211023661.htm