Reviving ancient Tuong dramas is always a “hot” issue and an important task for Tuong (classical drama) Theatres nationwide. The meritorious artist Hoang Ngoc Dinh, director of Dao Tan Tuong Theatre, talks more about the preservation of the ancient dramas.
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The Dao Tan Tuong Theatre’s artists act out the Son Hau play. Photo H.T
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Which difficulties the Theatre faced when it decided to act out ancient Tuong dramas?
Reviving the ancient dramas is very difficult for the veteran artists who are good at performing traditional dramas passed away. The ancient Tuong dramas couldn’t be recorded when they were performed in the old days; thus, it’s more difficult to revive them so that they remain intact.
Basing on written scripts and our knowledge of the ancient dramas we tried to revive them, ensuring their original features.
Which criteria are selected for reviving the ancient dramas?
An ancient drama which is selected to be revived must meet a set of three criteria, including the philosophical feature, the literary feature, and the artistic feature.
Reviving the ancient dramas also requires the inheritance. They show the preceding generation’s essence of art, but some still exist shortcomings that need changing to make them suitable to present-day audience.
When acting out the ancient dramas, the theatre always tries to minimize their weaknesses. We often have talks with living veteran artists and the art panel to carefully revive the highly controversial dramas.
How about the consequences?
The theatre has successfully revived some ancient dramas of which most are Dao Tan’s typical plays.
The “Son Hau” play, which hasn’t been acted out for years, was warmly welcomed when it was performed in rural areas. Also, the theatre tried to revive the “Dien Vo Dinh” play, which none of us have watched.
Reviving the ancient dramas helped us form a sound basis for the development of Tuong art. Thanks to this, the theatre is now capable of reviving ancient dramas which were given good comments in some festivals.
Why did the theatre decided to revive the “Dao Tam Xuan loan trao” play to join the national festival of traditional Tuong?
The play was rewritten by the theatre’s veteran artists and the characters of the play are well-designed. More importantly, it is suitable to the theatre’s young artists.
Performing an ancient drama often requires high demands. I wonder if the theatre’s young artists will be successful in acting out the ancient dramas?
The national festival of traditional Tuong will be held for the first time this year. Those who join the festival must be under 40. It is aimed at evaluating the quality and quantity of young artists nationwide.
Joining the festival, the theatre doesn’t put emphasis on achievements. The most important target is to help the young artists understand more about the traditional Tuong.
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