Great plays for young audiences this summer

Never before has the stage for children in Ho Chi Minh City been as exciting as this summer, with almost all art units performing new plays.

Good script, new technology

Art units in Ho Chi Minh City will serve the "young" audience with many good, attractive and highly educational plays such as: "The Adventures of Captain Sinbad: The Legend of the Magic Eye" (IDECAF Drama Theater), "The Flag Embroidered with Six Golden Words" (Sen Viet Stage), "Wild Animal Rescue Station" (Ho Chi Minh City Small Stage Drama Theater), circus show "Au o - First Sound of Life" (Phuong Nam Art Theater), "Fairy Tale 2 - The Adventures of Me Coc" (Truong Hung Minh Stage), "Colora - The Land of Radiance" (Ban Mai Stage), Musical "Colorful Island - The Challenge of Survival" (Quoc Thao Stage), "Carp Turns into Dragon" (Water Puppet Theater of the Museum of History)...

Many units have invested billions of dong in the stage such as IDECAF Drama Theater and Truong Hung Minh Art Stage to create novelty and appeal for the play to meet the diverse needs of the majority of young audiences today. Artist Viet Huong decided to invest heavily in vibrating seats and a snow spraying system in the auditorium of Vuon Lai Theater (District 10) just to serve a single performance in the play "Me Coc Adventures" directed by Viet Huong herself.

"Because children now watch many international stage shows for children on social networks, the play must have a breakthrough investment in technology to be able to attract children" - artist Viet Huong expressed.

Producer Huynh Anh Tuan (IDECAF Drama Theater) also invested 1.7 billion VND in staging the 35th "Once Upon a Time" program at Ben Thanh Theater. "After one day of online ticket sales, more than 10,000 tickets were sold out. This year, I ordered two artists Dinh Toan and Quang Thao to create a unique breakthrough and in creativity, they also had to apply new elements from techniques, technology, and lighting effects to serve the actors' performances, thereby creating a sparkling, attractive fairy tale that transcends space and time" - producer Huynh Anh Tuan said.

It can be said that the success of IDECAF Drama Theatre and Truong Hung Minh Art Stage is a process of not simple artistic labor. It is a reasonable balance between investment capital and the application of technology to innovate products. Another important thing is that the performance and staging must be appropriate, especially when staging historical plays.

A scene from the play "The Adventures of Mexico" by Truong Hung Minh Art Stage

Scarcity of scripts for children

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Thi Minh Thai said that the current theater scene faces a difficult problem of a shortage of scripts for children. Theater productions for children are few, the quality is uneven, many plays are overly entertaining, reducing cultural and educational elements. Not to mention the lessons embedded in the plays are still forced, not practical, and have not fully promoted the important role in guiding personality, patriotism and understanding of national culture.

With many years of experience serving children's audiences, producer Huynh Anh Tuan believes that developing a stage for "child" audiences is very necessary because they are the future audience generation of Ho Chi Minh City's theater scene.

According to Meritorious Artist Minh Nhi, since becoming a show producer, he realized that he had made a big mistake by not investing in programs for children. From there, "Fairy Tale" was born. "The script is very important. We do this very carefully, not letting the actors speak carelessly or off-topic, losing the educational and aesthetic value of the play for children" - Meritorious Artist Minh Nhi emphasized.

People's Artist Giang Manh Ha, Vice President of the Vietnam Stage Artists Association, expressed his hope that departments and branches, from the central to local levels, especially in Ho Chi Minh City - the country's major cultural center, need to pay attention and participate in developing theater for teenagers and children, from building facilities to funding sources, training human resources, etc., so that theaters can bring many good works to the public, especially teenage and child audiences.

"At the end of 2023, the Vietnam Stage Artists Association launched a contest to write stage scripts for teenagers and children and achieved good results, with many plays from the writing campaign being put on stage in 2024, but that is not enough. There must be a link to train human resources for children's theater" - People's Artist Giang Manh Ha expressed his opinion.

This summer, the Northern Theater will welcome "young" audiences with the musicals "The Swans" and "The Cat Who Taught the Seagulls to Fly". In addition, there is also the "Summer of Love" series, including 4 plays: "Elsa's Party", "The King Without a Throne", "Rescue Grandma", "Zorba the Detective Cat". In addition, with a new format creating diverse experiences for children, there are also plays such as "Tam Cam - Bong Bong Bang Bang" (Vietnam Circus Federation), "Grandma's Tale" ( Hanoi Drama Theater), "Color of Dreams" (Hanoi Circus and Variety Theater), "Hundred-Joint Bamboo Tree" and "Magical Sticky Rice" (Hanoi Cheo Theater)...

Source: https://nld.com.vn/nhung-vo-dien-hay-cho-khan-gia-nhi-dip-he-196240605214619226.htm