VietNamNet Bridge – Belinda Smith was working as a science teacher in a school near Liverpool when she decided it was time for a change of lifestyle.

British teacher finds direction on stage in Viet Nam

Belinda Smith – File photo

She thought she would give international teaching a go and was lucky enough to get a job at The British International School in HCM City. She arrived in Vietnam in 2005 and has been in love with this country ever since.

Theatre has always been Smith’s hobby and passion and whilst performing her day job as a teacher she has written and directed plays. When coming to Vietnam, she decided to try to tread the boards once more and thus joined Saigon Players amateur dramatic group.

With this team she performed in a few different shows including An Inspector Calls where she met Brian Riedlinger, who is not only a fantastic actor but is the director of the International Choir of HCM City.

When the choir performed Annie Get Your Gun, which was the first Broadway musical to come to Vietnam, she was asked to play one of the leading roles.

“At the same time as my love for theatre was growing I was also falling in love in a different way. Shortly after arriving here I met a wonderful man called Jonathan and we fell in love,” she said.

Her life changed when receiving a phone call from Jaime Zuniga (Dragonfly’s director and one of the founding members) when her daughter was about 10 months old. He talked in great length about his desire to put on professional theatre in Vietnam and had been given Smith’s name by Brian as the perfect person to play Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest.

Of course, she was flattered but more than that, she was so excited to be part of a group that understood the vital role theatre has in life. So, she accepted the role and with her husband’s invaluable support she became part of the cast.

“Jaime is inspirational and it wasn’t long before I was amalgamating my experience as a teacher and my passion for theatre in preparing an educational program for schools for The Importance of Being Earnest. All this was in addition to acting as Lady Bracknell, a character that Jaime wanted to ‘pad out’ to make her look really fat. This was the point that I told him that I was actually pregnant again so looking big wouldn’t be a problem!”

Smith was actually six months pregnant whilst performing as Lady Bracknell on stage. After the show she took a little break from Dragonfly and gave birth.

According to Smith her family is so happy here and she insists there are so many great things about this country. She loves the strength and friendliness of the Vietnamese people and of course, the food.

“Dragonfly is always looking ahead to the next project and as we become more established and known in HCM City we feel it is time to work on what we refer to as ‘the bridge’. This is the link we want to form between foreign theatre and Vietnamese theatre,” she said.

They already feature Vietnamese actresses in English speaking productions and Lan Phuong, Diem My and Trinh are a vital part of what makes Dragonfly so special.

According to Smith, the bridge will extend more in the future by performing foreign plays such as The Little Prince in Vietnamese and classic Vietnamese tales in English to foreign audiences.

“I arrived here as a single lady and have ended up eight years later with a husband, two children, two jobs and many amazing friends. Vietnam has been very good to me.” Smith added.

Source: SGT