How did the idea of bringing Tuong art to the streets come about, sir?
During a business trip to Khanh Hoa, I saw an outdoor Tuong art show at a prime cultural location. I really liked this model. In 2014, Da Nang City had economic indicators in the top 5 of the country, but in terms of culture, it ranked 39th, and investment in culture ranked 61st.
Afterwards, Mr. Tran Tho, former Secretary of the Da Nang City Party Committee, discussed with the Department of Culture and Sports how to promote Da Nang's cultural and artistic activities to match the socio-economic development. Personally, I think we should increase performances and artistic activities at night on both banks of the Han River to attract more tourists and bring people closer to art forms without having to pay. Of course, that includes Tuong art. For many reasons, it was not until July 12, 2015 that Nguyen Hien Dinh Tuong Theater performed its first pilot night under the name "Tuong in the street" on the east bank of the Han River Bridge.
Dance, singing, ensemble and folk musical instrument performances attract many viewers.
What is special about the structure of the street theater program?
By the end of 2015, after evaluating the results of the activities, the city leaders decided on a project to organize night art performances every year. The Tuong Theater built 2 alternating performance programs on Sunday evenings every week from April to the end of September, the months with the most favorable weather of the year. Program 1 specializes in Tuong art. Program 2 is traditional Vietnamese art with the theme of Homeland Melody , including ensemble performances, solo performances of traditional musical instruments, folk dances of ethnic groups, Cham dances... and short, concise excerpts of Tuong. Tuong on the street must be easy to understand.
So is it true that choosing actors and creating excerpts of plays with specific criteria is only for "going out on the streets"?
Each night, there are about 40 actors participating. These are actors who have carefully prepared for each act and excerpt. I choose a management method that is never passive about actors. The cast is a stable team. If the main actor is not available, there is a second actor to replace him immediately, without affecting the agency's operations.
We have an art council, after each performance, based on feedback, the program will be developed. This year there are 3 performances, the program is not only for the competition but also for performance on the street. The current street opera program has 13 good excerpts, performed in rotation on nights, such as: Doi hon Dat Ky, Nhi khi Chu Du, Lo Lam de co...
4 musical performances of the Lac Tho program, including: solo performance Ngu Hanh song , duet drum performance Co vong song Han , solo sona trumpet performance Manh Luong catches horse, ensemble Khuc Lac Tho giao hoa . These are performances participating in competitions but are also street-going opera performances, creating new colors.
Dance, singing, ensemble and folk musical instrument performances attract many viewers.
According to you, what is the difference between Da Nang Tuong when performed on the street and other localities?
I created a fairly harmonious program, including excerpts from comedy plays, traditional plays, folk plays, etc. with easy-to-understand topics. In addition, the theater also has an alternating program of opera music, opera dances, and especially an introduction to opera makeup and costumes. I did this part very carefully to attract all audiences. I chose the content of Vietnamese opera. Plays borrowed from China were also performed, but the excerpts had to be really good.
In introducing makeup, the theater is very meticulous. Currently, the theater retains the most Tuong face painting in the Central region thanks to the teachers who passed it down and printed it into books. The actors are also trained systematically and their face painting is very beautiful. We use Nguyen Dynasty Tuong costumes as the main thing because they are close to our generation. Tuong costumes are hand-embroidered, decorated with glitter... with a value of up to 30 million VND/set.
Each place has its own way of doing things, but we do it with all our efforts and thorough research. There have been units that have come to learn from us…
Is the street audience a difficult audience to conquer, especially children?
They are not too strict, because they come to watch mainly for entertainment. However, the impression of the play in their hearts is up to us to decide. That means we have to have really good programs. Bringing the play to the street absolutely cannot be sloppy!
For children, visualizing the opera is the best thing. To attract and impress children, before performing the opera, we performed the elegant music show "Lân mẫu xuat lan nhi" which was extremely elaborately staged.
Excerpt from the play "The Ambassador" at the mobile stage on the east bank of the Han River
Young audiences enjoy watching street plays
Surely your deepest memories of the times you brought plays to the streets were also associated with young audiences?
I observed very carefully when the children came to watch the play. At first, when they saw the painted faces of the characters, they were too scared and cried. On the second day, they stood watching from afar; on the third day, they asked their parents to carry them in. On the fifth and sixth days, they tried to find out why this man had a red face, that woman had a blue-white face… So the adults had to find out to answer the children. And with very careful preparation of knowledge about the play, the actors would explain in detail. So the play had another young audience, and so on, slowly but surely. Children watching the play was already a success.
Are you worried that bringing Tuong to the streets will cause a loss of customers to Nguyen Hien Dinh Tuong Theater?
Performing plays on the street is to promote and introduce them to people who do not understand plays. As for those who do, they do not appreciate those performances and will go to the theater to watch them, although currently for many reasons, not many audiences come to the theater.
After 15 years of management work and nearly 10 years of bringing Tuong to the streets, have you ever felt discouraged?
No! This job is fun but sometimes stressful due to the pressure. Especially in 2019, when the then Secretary of the Da Nang City Party Committee, Mr. Truong Quang Nghia, reviewed the theater's activities, he asked: In addition to the monthly salary, how much does the theater pay you? I replied: There is also a performance allowance of a few hundred thousand dong per night. The Secretary continued to ask: Are you worried that one day you will leave?
Then, under the direction of the City Party Secretary, Nguyen Hien Dinh Tuong Theater developed a project to improve the efficiency of theater operations until 2025, with a vision to 2030. In which, it determined that in addition to the main function and task of preserving and promoting the art of Tuong, it also had to create products to serve the people and tourists; in addition, it proposed a process of partial autonomy in operating costs.
Behind the scenes, street audiences can witness the costume making process.
Tuong artists paint each other's faces during a performance on the Han River Bridge.
So what did he do so that "his brothers would not leave him"?
As mentioned, after the project was approved, the unit organized the implementation of the contents. Regarding the art program for tourists, 2020 achieved quite good results, however, from July 2020 to the end of 2022 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the program had to be temporarily suspended. From the beginning of 2023 until now, the theater and travel agencies are actively communicating and promoting to attract visitors. Performances at other locations are quite good, artistic activities are quite vibrant, and revenue has increased significantly...
When we create a friendly working environment, where our colleagues can develop their abilities, they will stick together. For those who work in the art of Tuong, it is okay to be a little hungry, but not being able to work will be very sad. Of course, I will not let my colleagues starve. I cannot be rich, but they can be free to work with their profession. I have to build a team that ensures discipline, solidarity, and high artistic quality; and regularly create jobs for them.
Besides bringing plays to the streets, does the theater have any other programs to promote this art?
We are implementing the program "bringing Tuong to the airport" with the theme Heritage Road . Each program is about 30 minutes, with a crew of 20 people; performed every Thursday and Saturday. After building and selling the copyright, the theater has a very good amount of money to reinvest and improve the lives of the brothers. Promoting Tuong at the airport is very effective, creating a good impression on international tourists, foreign news agencies... Hotels in Da Nang have also connected with us to bring Tuong to the hotel to perform for tourists to watch.
The theater continues the program of bringing Tuong to schools that has been implemented for many years with excerpts related to historical figures to contribute to educating the younger generation about tradition. The good news is that in the past 3 years we have trained and selected 12 young actors.
Expression of character Zhou Yu in excerpt of the play Er Qi Zhou Yu
Excerpt from the play about Tran Quoc Toan with the actors' decisive movements
The cast of plays appearing on stage inspired the audience.
After nearly 10 years of bringing Tuong to the streets, can you share more experiences to bring this traditional art form into life?
With what I have accumulated, I think that when introducing plays to the people, we should choose excerpts that are close to Vietnamese customs and traditions, especially meaningful stories associated with historical figures. There have been cases where theaters performed plays for school-age children but chose the excerpt Ho Nguyet Co turned into a fox . I think that is inappropriate, even inadvertently anti-educational. Regarding the art of makeup and costumes, we should choose the most beautiful and quintessential ones to introduce.
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