Summer children's drama, thought to be a success but too many people make it difficult

The play Colora - The Land of Brilliant Colors by Ban Mai Children's Theatre - Photo: LINH DOAN

It's been a long time since the city's theater village had the opportunity in the summer to have 7 or 8 circus and children's plays performed at the same time to serve young audiences.

Many children's plays, quality improved

Many years ago, every summer, people would easily read articles "complaining" about the lack of children's theater, with only Idecaf Theater alone with Once Upon a Time.

Surprisingly, this summer, the children's stage became bustling. Not only drama but also reformed opera, circus, water puppetry...

Maintaining its "brand" is still Idecaf Drama Theater with Once Upon a Time 35, the play The Adventures of Captain Sinbad: The Legend of the Magic Eye performed at Ben Thanh Theater.

A new "rival" that debuted last year but is also very respectable is Truong Hung Minh Stage with Fairy Tale 2, the play Me Coc Adventures .

This summer, the young Ban Mai children's theater stage will premiere its second play , Colora - The Land of Radiance .

After a long time of persisting with children's plays, 5B Drama Theater now presents the play Animal Rescue Station . Quoc Thao Theater has the play Colorful Island and the Survival Challenge.

Young audiences happily go on stage to watch the magic show in the play Animal Rescue Station at 5B Drama Theater - Photo: LINH DOAN

Hong Hac Stage remade My Little Angel with a new crew. Phuong Nam Arts Theater had the Au O circus play and the Hoa Dat Viet water puppet show.

Not only that, this year, Sen Viet Stage directed by Le Nguyen Dat also joined the race with the Southern folk musical The Flag Embroidered with 6 Golden Words .

Although the number of children's books has increased dramatically, it is fortunate that more than half of them are well invested and of commendable quality.

The stages seem to have been "tempered" so they gradually progress and know how to master staging and performing children's plays.

Many small meaningful lessons are included. The plot is handled reasonably to balance the play's rhythm. Costumes, scenery, techniques, effects... are invested in to create a sparkling, eye-catching, and attractive look for children's plays.

The best part is that the number of silly and inane jokes has been greatly reduced. Stages also pay attention to the appropriate program duration, limiting the actors from joking around, making the play drag on and drag on.

Too many plays, the audience is scattered.

If last year people were "shocked" when Idecaf and Truong Hung Minh could perform from summer to September and reach over 60 shows, this summer that record will be difficult to repeat.

Many producers were shocked and even "devastated" when the audience dropped.

Mr. Tram Thanh Thao, ticket sales manager at Idecaf Drama Theater, said that by the end of June, Once Upon a Time had performed 34 times.

According to the plan, there will be 8 performances in July. After that, the theater will have to see the situation to decide the performances for August. And perhaps the play will close in August and not last through September.

Mr. Thao said: "The number of audiences this year decreased compared to last year, especially the Sunday night show was very weak, only about 400-500 tickets."

Artist Viet Huong said that the number of audiences coming to the Mexican Adventures has decreased compared to last year. The play has now performed 20 times, and in July and August, she is busy with film projects so it is difficult to schedule many performances. Therefore, the play may not be as successful as the Fairy Tale last year with 60 performances.

Director Bao Chu of Ban Mai Theater said that the theater's new play currently only has 50% of seats per show.

Producer My Uyen is also sad about the decrease in audience. She thinks that in fact there are only so many theater audiences, so when there are many children's plays, the audience will inevitably disperse.

Not only that, many producers believe that the economy has not yet fully recovered, so audiences are very careful when buying tickets.

The large number of children's plays has resulted in actors running around, making it very difficult to make children's plays nowadays.

Given the tense situation this year, professionals predict that next year many producers will have to calculate and consider carefully when making children's plays.

However, there are people who seem persistent and believe that we should not rely on old audiences, but should boldly and persistently build and find new audiences for children's plays.

The Adventures of Captain Sinbad: The Legend of the Magic Eye by Idecaf Drama Theater - Photo: LINH DOAN

Idecaf representative said that only two years after the pandemic, Once Upon a Time was a huge success with 55 and 62 shows. With the normal program, including the Mid-Autumn Festival, there are only about 30-32 shows. If it reaches about 42 shows, it is considered a win.

"Out of 35 Once Upon a Time shows, only about 10-12 actually won, so with this situation we are worried but not insecure. Next year we will still invest heavily to maintain the quality that has been loved by young audiences," said a theater representative.

Artist My Uyen said that up to now, none of her children's plays have recovered their capital. "It would be a pity to abandon them, but it would be a sin to keep them. But we are trying to build a familiar performance venue, creating a habit for the audience to come and watch children's plays every week" - My Uyen confided.

Viet Huong's play cost billions of dong, but she said she was lucky because she had a business activity and was sponsored. With 20 performances, the play could recover its capital, and with more performances, the play would make a profit, so she still had the motivation to maintain the children's play.

Director Bao Chu said that when doing the children's stage play, the crew had determined that they would have to make up for the loss for a period of time. Therefore, they remained calm and still planned to make 4 plays a year.

In addition, the stages also actively coordinate with schools to perform contracts and conduct workshops. The income is not too large but is enough for the stages to survive and extend the performances.

Making children's plays has never seemed easy…

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/kich-thieu-nhi-he-tuong-thang-nhung-dong-qua-hoa-kho-khan-2024062115523892.htm