Finding solutions to develop traditional opera

The four-hour discussion on reformed classical opera (organized by the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Ho Chi Minh City Theater Association at Tran Huu Trang Theater on the morning of September 18) still did not express all the opinions of those involved.

Currently, while traditional cai luong is facing common difficulties, appearing only occasionally, cai luong tuong co seems to be more bustling, releasing new plays regularly, and selling tickets quite well. The units that maintain this activity are Huynh Long troupe, Minh To troupe, Chi Linh-Van Ha stage, Le Nguyen Truong Giang stage, Kim Tu Long stage. All of them are socialized stages, struggling to keep the lights on, which is also a remarkable point. However, there are also some problems that make people think.

(From left to right) Artists Xuan Truc, Tu Suong and Thanh Thao in the excerpt "The Saddle Poem" performed at the discussion on the morning of September 18

PHOTO: HK

First, the discussion mentioned the two words "traditional opera", which, according to Dr. Mai My Duyen, "was a great contribution of People's Artist Thanh Tong after 1975. Because of avoiding the word "Ho Quang", the troupes switched to writing and staging Vietnamese historical scripts, and from there called them "traditional opera" for easier acceptance. In fact, in this discussion, the audience was shown an excerpt from the play Cau Tho Yen Ngua , composed and staged by Thanh Tong, which became a model for the Minh To troupe and the entire Cai Luong village. Everyone acknowledged that the play was very attractive, watching it over and over again dozens of times for nearly half a century and still being moved. This proves that traditional opera has an undeniable power of conquest. Following that, the trend of writing Vietnamese historical scripts exploded, and artist Bach Mai of the Huynh Long troupe was a bright name following Thanh Tong with a series of very good scripts.

But then everything calmed down when journalist Thanh Hiep, Head of the Criticism and Theory Department of the Ho Chi Minh City Theater Association, said: "In recent years, the traditional Cai Luong has returned to its old form, meaning that the Ho Quang element dominates from the script to the music , costumes, sometimes taking a movie and rewriting it into a play." And every Tet season, the performance schedule of the traditional Tuong troupes is dense from the first to the fifteenth day of the lunar month, all of which are Chinese stories with large-scale investments, which inevitably makes the art world worried.

But from concern to finding a solution is not simple. People's Artist Tran Minh Ngoc said: "We need to eliminate elements that are not true to the national soul, that is Ho Quang music". And People's Artist Que Tran has convincingly demonstrated, right in the excerpt of the Yen Ngua poem that the audience just watched, there is the Ly Cay Bong melody that People's Artist Thanh Tong skillfully inserted, and musician Duc Phu has creatively transformed but still completely fits with the traditional opera. Meritorious Artist Ca Le Hong, former Principal of the Ho Chi Minh City University of Theater and Cinema, continued: "Our treasure trove of Cai Luong melodies is very rich, if we have talent, we will use it appropriately to reduce Ho Quang melodies".

But can the younger generation do as Thanh Tong, Duc Phu, Thanh Dung of ancient Tuong? Meritorious Teacher Dieu Duc said: "We must invest in training the core force who are the children of ancient Tuong artists who want to follow their parents' career. As for the music composed and adapted by musician Duc Phu to make Ho Quang pieces with Vietnamese sounds, it needs to be transcribed and widely disseminated."

However, the most difficult thing is still the funding for socialized troupes to survive. The reality is that when staging Chinese plays, tickets are easy to sell because they are colorful, while staging Vietnamese historical plays always has fewer audiences, sometimes even at a loss. Many people hope that the government will have a policy to support funding for Vietnamese historical plays to be performed in high schools and universities, so that the troupe can survive and young audiences can also learn history in an interesting way.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/tim-giai-phap-phat-trien-cai-luong-tuong-co-185240918202518302.htm