Attractive Tet drama 'Maxim's restaurant prostitute'

Artist Hong Phuc (left) as a doctor and Mai Duyen (right) as a prostitute surprised many people with their acting talent - Photo: T.DIEU

Different from the habit of enjoying cultural and artistic activities of audiences in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, after the Tet holiday, the Tet drama season has officially begun.

If the Youth Theater chooses comedy and music programs with newly staged humorous skits to attract audiences during the Tet drama season, the Vietnam Drama Theater prepares a richer "menu".

The "menu" includes the program Rendezvous 8.3 with two classic world and Vietnamese comedies, Inspector Quan and Clams, plus the classic comedy Maxim's Restaurant Cave Girl.

When the whole stupid and empty high society follows a prostitute

Maxim's Restaurant Lady is taken from the original La Dame de chez Maxim - a masterpiece by the great 19th century French playwright Georges Feydeau.  

A comedy about the aristocratic upper class in Paris, the dark side of society.

The comedy exposes the hurtful lies in the relationships between family members - Photo: T.DIEU

"Georges Feydeau's life was tragic but in return he created wonderful works," said People's Artist Tuan Hai - director of this comedy.

Georges Feydeau spent many years working in bars, nightclubs and restaurants, so he wrote captivating and vivid stories of Paris at night, leaving behind priceless works of art, including the play Maxim's Restaurant Prostitute .

The play revolves around the story of a prostitute at Maxim's cabaret with obscene dancing, who in a dire situation suddenly becomes a model and idol for the aristocratic upper class.

The play is a journey of the entire upper class in France, empty at that time, because they were eager to learn nonsense and frivolous things, engrossed in following the lead of a prostitute without knowing it.

During that journey, the painful lies in the family became more and more obvious and slid further.

The whole ignorant and empty upper class society is constantly following the lead of the prostitute - Photo: T.DIEU

Watching the play makes many Vietnamese audiences think of a semi-Europeanized society, an opportunity for the fake to rise to power, the entire fake upper class being led by the nose by a drug dealer in the market in the classic work Red-haired Spring by Vu Trong Phung.

Maxim's Restaurant Catwoman premiered in Paris exactly 125 years ago, in the spring of 1899. For more than a hundred years, the comedy has been continuously performed in Parisian theaters and theaters around the world.

Very French but also very Vietnamese

In Vietnam, the play was staged by a French director for Vietnamese actors in 1998. At that time, artist Chieu Xuan was chosen to play the female lead - a prostitute.

If the 1998 version can be said to be completely French when the director "lifted" his style over, including all the costumes, with only Vietnamese actors, then director Tuan Hai's version this time, although very loyal to the author, very French in stage scenery, costumes, music, choreography... but at the same time, it is also very Vietnamized.

The dialogues are modernized and Vietnamized, no longer too classical and academic to suit today's Vietnamese audience. The director gracefully inserted many "bamboo pen" poems into the dialogues, creating many very Vietnamese, bitter conversations.

"I almost translated 100% of the lyrics to make it easier for today's Vietnamese audience to understand," director Tuan Hai shared.

Many humorous situations arise from cover-ups and lies - Photo: T.DIEU

The audience laughed throughout the play, but behind the laughter were questions about the hypocrisy of the once bourgeois, upper-class society and could not help but think of the Westernized Vietnamese society of the first half of the 20th century, vividly portrayed in Red-haired Spring by Vu Trong Phung.

The "new" (not yet famous) cast participating in the comedy Maxim's Restaurant Prostitute really surprised the audience, critics, and media with their excellent combination of acting and dancing skills.

Especially artist Mai Duyen in the role of a prostitute was a big surprise when she acted so delicately, immersed in the role, a bold role completely different from her previous image - gentle roles in folk plays.

Artist Hong Phuc as the doctor is another unexpected success of the play. Although he has no advantage in appearance, that plus the artist's talent has portrayed a character in the upper class that is very impressive right from the outside.

Maxim's restaurant prostitute returns to Hanoi audiences on the night of February 18 and February 23, 24, 25 at the Vietnam Drama Theater.

The show Rendezvous 8.3 will continue this play. In which, the play "Ngheou om oc hen" will be performed on the nights of March 1, 2, 7, 16 at the Vietnam Drama Theater and March 8 at the Dai Nam Theater.

The play Inspector will be performed on the nights of March 9, 10, and 19 at Dai Nam Theater and March 15 at Vietnam Drama Theater.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/kich-tet-hap-dan-a-cave-nha-hang-maxim-20240218150749996.htm