Director, Meritorious Artist Hoa Ha: The stage must change

As a director who always puts artistic efficiency first, Hoa Ha never has the concept of stopping.

Reporter: What makes you feel the positive signal from the catwalk in early 2025?

Director: Meritorious Artist Hoa Ha

- Director, Meritorious Artist HOA HA: The shows at the beginning of the new year were all crowded with audiences, many public and non-public art units were lit up, there were many good plays, leaving the audience with many emotions.

Since the success of the Cai Luong Theatre Festival held in Can Tho City in 2024, art units have changed their mindset to invest in plays that both ensure entertainment and meet the festival's criteria. For socialized units, the goal is to sell tickets after competing and bring the award-winning play to the public.

The reconstructed work "Suburban People" has been highly appreciated by the public and experts. From this project, what have you planned for activities in 2025?

- I must thank playwright Hoang Song Viet - a dedicated and talented author. Thanks to him, Dai Viet New Reformed Theatre has many good plays, nominated and voted for the Mai Vang Award by readers of Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper such as: "Khau Vai Love Story", "Nang Xe Da", "Dem truong ngay hoang dao", "Co dao hat"... Recently, the role of Mr. Bay Don in the play "Nguoi ven do" brought Meritorious Artist Vo Minh Lam the Mai Vang Award in the category of "Most Favorite Stage Actor". The play won the Silver Medal at the 2024 Reformed Theatre Festival.

A scene from the play "Tieng ho song of Hau river" by director Hoa Ha. Photo: HOANG THUAN

The success of the play "The People on the outskirts" brings us joy, that is, the young actors are capable of inheriting the seniors. They are eager to learn, diligently study their roles to reap artistic achievements. The play has a widespread influence when serving the audience at Tran Huu Trang Theater and at Ba Diem - Hoc Mon District, Ho Chi Minh City - where the play was born, receiving the applause of the majority of the public.

.The new version of the play "Tieng ho song Hau" - a play with a revolutionary theme, after 2 performances also achieved high artistic effect. Are you satisfied with this version?

- Many people still think that revolutionary themes are difficult to stage and sell tickets, but for me, if I know how to make it good and attractive, the play will be successful. This staged version is the passion of the young actors, and at the same time shows that they have improved and are capable of taking on difficult roles. In the artistic career of an artist, being able to transform into difficult roles is a recognized maturity.

To promote the development of Cai Luong stage and spread historical works, what do you suggest?

- Vietnamese historical works really need investment from creative camps, writing camps focusing on Vietnamese history. Young authors also need to attend training courses with the accompaniment of historians. As far as I know, in 2026, the Ho Chi Minh City Theater Festival will focus on performing the Cai Luong genre. If we do not invest in new scripts from now on, the situation of troupes competing with old plays will repeat. The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Culture - Sports and the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education - Training need to soon build a standard framework for the "School Theater" program, where Vietnamese historical works can be promoted, thereby effectively providing historical knowledge to students. From the pages of history books studied to the plays and excerpts watched, it will promote the students' desire to learn and explore the history of the nation.

As a member of the jury of the Campaign "HCMC - 50 years of proud heroic epic", how do you evaluate the achievements of this campaign?

- I am happy that there are many good works in the field of reformed opera and drama. The campaign to compose, stage and promote literary and artistic works towards the 50th anniversary of the Liberation of the South and National Reunification (April 30, 1975 - April 30, 2025) with the theme: "HCMC - 50 years of proud heroic epic" was organized and launched by the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City from July 2023. After more than a year of launching, the campaign has received 630 works from 434 authors from all over the country. The preliminary, first and second finalist councils have worked impartially, with the spirit of respecting the creativity and dedication of the participating artists, to select outstanding works to propose to the organizing committee for consideration and awarding prizes.

With deep affection for the city named after Uncle Ho, the authors and groups of authors brought to the campaign many works of high ideological and artistic value, especially the cai luong stage works that closely followed the theme, expressing the strong aspiration for a Ho Chi Minh City reaching new heights in the future.

Meritorious Artist Vo Minh Lam said: "My mind always remembers the atmosphere of the days of rehearsing the play "Nguoi ven do". Ms. Hoa Ha devoted all her heart to the play, urging us to practice and explore our creativity. As a young actor who first transformed into an old man, Mr. Bay Don was a challenging character for me. Thanks to Ms. Hoa Ha's encouragement and guidance, I became confident and the public accepted my role. I am happy to have received the Mai Vang statue for the 8th time for the role of Mr. Bay Don. To me, Ms. Hoa Ha is a passionate teacher who devoted herself to the cai luong stage".

Source: https://nld.com.vn/dao-dien-nsut-hoa-ha-san-khau-phai-chuyen-minh-196250208201556988.htm