Spreading the art of Tuong

Students of Pham Phu Thu Primary School compete in drawing Tuong masks. Photo: VL

Evoking love of opera

Le Quynh Nhu, class 4B, Pham Phu Thu Primary School (Dien Phuong ward, Dien Ban) carefully paints each stroke on the mask that was just distributed.

After about 30 minutes, Quynh Nhu completed the mask with the main color red, expressing the integrity of the character in the art of Tuong.

Le Quynh Nhu is one of 26 students from Pham Phu Thu Primary School participating in the Tuong mask painting contest organized by the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Dien Ban town in coordination with Dien Phuong ward on the occasion of "Hometown Festival".

As the hometown of the playwright Nguyen Hien Dinh, the Tuong mask drawing contest has become an event that helps to inspire in each student the initial idea of this traditional art form.

Student Nguyen Hoang Ngan - class 4A, Pham Phu Thu Primary School shared that although she has never watched a play and does not understand what a play is, she can still feel the "fierce" or "gentle" personality of the character through the color of the mask.

"I like brightness so I chose blue to paint my Tuong mask" - Hoang Ngan said.

Looking at the children's eyes carefully examining each brushstroke at the competition, one can see the attraction of Tuong to these young "artists".

In the art of Tuong, masks are considered an important and highly symbolic performance tool, contributing to creating the character's soul, bringing many impressions to the audience.

Therefore, the Tuong masks on stage are often painted boldly and clearly to depict the character's personality as good, evil/kind or tragic/clown... thereby increasing the artist's expression.

Thanks to these faces, the audience can know the character's psychology, personality, and social class right from the moment the actor steps onto the stage.

Mr. Pham Van Ba - Head of the Department of Culture and Information of Dien Ban town affirmed that through the contest, it will help students understand more about Tuong and love the cultural beauty of the nation.

From there, it contributes to forming emotions about tuong as well as preserving and promoting the traditional cultural values of tuong art of Quang region.

Promoting the value of Tuong

Going back in history, Quang Nam Tuong (with the space of Quang Nam, Da Nang and Quang Ngai) appeared and developed from the beginning of the 17th century to the end of the 18th century.

Dien Ban will put excerpts of Tuong plays into performances at local cultural events. Photo: VL

The beginning was the birth and operation of two theater troupes, Duc Giao (now in Que Chau commune, Que Son) and Khanh Tho (now in Tam Thai commune, Phu Ninh) in the early 19th century.

From the beginning of the 20th century to 1920, Tuong developed most brilliantly with the birth of Chu Chau theater (Hoi An), Vinh Dien Tuong school (Dien Ban)... and a series of other Tuong schools in Da Nang such as Mieu Bong, Cho Moi, Nam O...

Dien Ban is the hometown of famous Tuong composers such as Nguyen Hien Dinh, Tong Phuoc Pho... Therefore, preserving and promoting Tuong art not only helps spread traditional cultural values but also aims to form a tourism product.

For many years, Dien Ban Museum has displayed costumes, masks, and props for visitors to study. This place still functions well as a place to preserve the value of a traditional national cultural form.

Nowadays, although Tuong is no longer as developed as before, it is still attractive and appealing to a part of the people and tourists.

In the recent performance of excerpts of Tuong in Dien Phuong ward (Dien Ban), witnessing the interest and excitement of local people and tourists, Mr. Van Ba Son - Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism affirmed: "In addition to the potential advantages of location, nature, culture, craft villages... Tuong will become a unique tourism product and service if it is polished, the script is closer, easier to understand and more suitable for young customers".

Mr. Pham Van Ba added that the success of the Tuong mask drawing contest and the audience's reception of the excerpts have inspired ideas to spread the love of Tuong art to all classes of people, especially young people and students.

“In the immediate future, the unit will prepare a report to submit to the Town People’s Committee to propose organizing regular performances of excerpts of Tuong plays every year. In addition, we will also try to include Tuong plays in some local cultural events.

In particular, advise the Town People's Committee on the coordination between the Department of Culture and Information and the Town Education Department to periodically organize Tuong mask drawing competitions in schools, thereby educating the love of Tuong art in students at all levels.

In particular, we will include the art of tuong in the content of preserving intangible culture in the Dien Ban Cultural Project that is being built" - Mr. Ba said.

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