What does the Capital Theater do to escape the safe, nostalgic trend?

From heyday to… crisis

At the conference “Capital Stage - 70 years of accompanying the nation” recently organized by the Hanoi Theatre Association, the speakers all agreed that Hanoi has been and will be one of the centers of the national stage, a place that gathers theatrical talents. According to People's Artist Bui Thanh Tram, since the early years of the 20th century, most of the most important theatrical events in the country's theatrical life took place and crystallized in Hanoi . "In the first years after the August Revolution, Hanoi's stage deserved to be the center, the spotlight illuminating the national stage" - People's Artist Bui Thanh Tram commented.

Immediately after October 10, 1954, Hanoi theater quickly entered the orbit of revolutionary theater with many plays of topical and sharp combative nature. In particular, the years 1975 - 1985 were the golden age of the capital's theater when many plays opened up many aspects of life with pressing issues that society was concerned about. Cai luong theater in the flow of exchange both absorbed the ancient elegant tradition and acquired a very modern liveliness and appeal. Cheo theater went from cautious exploration and experimentation to "eager and determined" innovation and was then rewarded with resounding success, typically "Sita". Also in this golden age, a new generation of talented artists appeared, proving their worthy role as successors.

Artists from the Hanoi Cheo Theatre perform at the event “Culture Festival for Peace” to celebrate the 70th Anniversary of the Liberation of the Capital.

However, from 1986 to now, along with the national stage, Hanoi stage has entered a new period of challenges. Theaters have struggled to survive as audience tastes have changed, and many modern forms of entertainment have emerged. Theaters have gradually lost their audiences, causing people to define them with tragic terms such as “crisis theater”, “deteriorated theater”, “livelihood theater”…

More worryingly, the stage only revolves around old, worn-out themes, far from the hot reality that happens every day, and the form of expression is also rarely innovated. According to Dr. and theater critic Cao Ngoc, for several decades now, the capital's stage has been lacking works on attractive modern themes, lacking the image of a dynamic Hanoi with so many strong changes. The script is poor, the dialogue is bland, the characters lack logic and aesthetics have hardly changed for decades...

“Through the capital’s stage festivals that are held periodically, viewers see that the units are following a safe, nostalgic trend when still staging historical, legendary, folk, legendary, foreign or old scripts” - Dr. Cao Ngoc assessed.

Dr. Cao Ngoc emphasized that when the audience's level, taste and conditions have changed a lot but the art form still retains the old form, no longer suitable for the new era, it is difficult to talk about the attractiveness, it is difficult to attract the audience to the stage. For Hanoi's theater units, for a long time, the most headache problem is finding scripts with the people and land of Hanoi as the central image, which has always been an urgent requirement but has not yet been met. There is also a lack of authors who are dedicated to writing about Hanoi, those who absorb the breath of Hanoi into every page of their writing.

“There is no shortage of writers and poets who love Hanoi and are eager to express it in their works, but the harshness of the scripts still makes them hesitate. There are also some authors who believe that there are many good scripts about Hanoi but they have not passed the evaluation stage, have not found the harmony to express on stage” - Dr. Cao Ngoc said.

Change to find new direction

Pointing out the difficulties and shortcomings of the capital's stage, Dr. Cao Ngoc also said that with many central and local art units located in the area, all of which are leading birds in each genre of drama, the Hanoi stage still has very strong internal strength.

Ms. Ngoc believes that it is necessary to invest appropriately and in depth to create theatrical works imbued with Hanoi's cultural identity, so that the capital's theater can affirm its uniqueness and distinctiveness, which cannot be confused with other localities. To do this, it is necessary to have the green eyes of leaders and script reviewers, and to "pave the sand for gold" to have theatrical works worthy of the stature of the capital today.

Scene from the play "The Singer" by Hanoi Cheo Theatre.

“Each art unit should create for its own theater a few stage authors who are suitable for its viewpoint and direction to invest appropriately. Only then can we hope to harvest literary works imbued with the unique qualities of this thousand-year-old cultural land” - Dr. Cao Ngoc suggested.

Writer Nguyen Toan Thang also said that Hanoi is a "super topic", from Thang Long - Dong Do in the past to Hanoi today, there are many famous people, even every person, every tree, every street corner is a witness to history, there are many stories to tell. We should not focus on the topic of Ly Cong Uan moving the capital every holiday, or the modern historical topic of Hanoi fighting the French or Hanoi - Dien Bien Phu in the air. "There have been too many works mentioning those events and they have been very successful. It is time to give way to other events, which are very meaningful to Hanoi but have been obscured by the dust of history" - Mr. Thang said.

According to People's Artist Nguyen Hoang Tuan - Chairman of the Hanoi Theater Association, the tendency of entertainment forms to gradually encroach on professional art is not that professional art has lost its professionalism but mainly due to the taste of the crowd. This is not something new or against the law but is a universal, global phenomenon. Fortunately, the audience is now gradually returning to the stage, however, they demand from the stage works of art with high artistic quality, elaborate investment and rich creativity... Therefore, in addition to timely, focused and oriented investment, the profession itself must also change to find a new direction.

Mr. Tuan said that in the coming time, the Hanoi Stage Artists Association will discuss with the Vietnam Stage Artists Association and art units in the area to innovate coordination work for effectiveness. At the same time, while the number of authors capable of writing scripts and critical theory of the stage is still small, the Association will focus on exploiting the advantages of experience, rich experience and talent of this creative team, despite their age.

“The heroic character, the symbol of a historical period, the inspiration of praise with epic colors is the mark of a time. The one-sided, transparent nature of the romantically beautiful characters of that period belongs to yesterday. In the coming period, what the characters of the era will be like, what the methods of perception and expression will be, what the main inspiration is… are waiting for the answer from us - the professionals. In this field, the pioneering role of the artist, discovering the problems of the era, predicting the development trends of society and bringing those problems and people into the works so that they can return to impact life, that is our mission” - Mr. Tuan concluded.

Khanh Ngoc

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/san-khau-thu-do-lam-gi-de-thoat-khoi-xu-huong-an-toan-hoai-co-post316089.html