VietNamNet Bridge – HCM City’s Tran Huu Trang Theatre in co-operation with its partner Tien Giang Province’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism will stage a cai luong show to celebrate 110th anniversary of  the late playwright Tran Huu Trang’s birthday, one of the region’s foremost artists of cai luong (reformed theatre), on April 15 at the city’s Opera House.

Honoring Trang: Cai luong star Ngoc Giau of HCM City will participate in a show organised by the Tran Huu Trang Theatre, in memory of the late playwright Tran Huu Trang, one of the region’s foremost artists in cai luong. Photo by Thanh Hiep

The event’s first part will feature Doi Co Luu (Mrs Luu’s Life), one of Trang’s most popular plays first staged in the 1930s by cai luong pioneers Nam Chau, Phung Ha and Ut Tra On.

The play portrays Luu, a Vietnamese woman, and her challenges and sufferings under the feudal society in the south.  

Its second part will introduce a TV report produced by the Ho Chi Minh Television, called Tran Huu Trang- Mot Doi To Nghiep (Tran Huu Trang - A Life for Cai Luong Theatre), about the life and career of Trang.

“We began to hire staff and investment for the show last week,” said People’s Artist Tran Ngoc Giau, director of the Tran Huu Trang Theatre, the region’s leading cai luong theatre, which was named under the artist’s name.  

“Our performance aims to raise funds to build a temple to the memory of Trang in his homeland, Cho Gao District of Tien Giang,” he added.

The show has attracted dozens of veteran and young artists, such as People’s Artist Bach Tuyet, People’s Artist Le Thuy, Thoai My, Kim Tu Long and Que Tran

Young talents like Vo Minh Lam and Le Tu will also be included.   

"Playwright Trang was the first to feature women as leading characters in cai luong. Though he has passed away, his art is still alive among Vietnamese audiences, particularly southerners," said Giau.

Trang was born in 1906 to a farming family in Cho Gao of My Tho Province (now Tien Giang).   

He began his professional career in 1928, working for leading troupes owned by Nam Phi and Nam Chau, great veterans of cai luong.

His first play, Lua Do Long Son (Mind in Fire), featured social problems.

In the 1930s, Trang was at the peak of his artistry and fame, trying to put his new ideas in serious plays such Lan Va Diep  (Love Story of Lan and Diep), Tim Hanh Phuc (Seeking Happiness) and Khi Nguoi Dien Biet Yeu (When the Madman Loves).

After the August Revolution in 1945, Trang joined the revolution and worked in Sai Gon-Cho Lon. He was a member of the National Front for the Liberation of the South.  

In 1946, he wrote Hau Chien Truong, a work about patriotism. His last play was Nguyen Van Troi (Hero Nguyen Van Troi).

He died in 1966 in battle. His body has never been found.

He created more than 30 works and all feature Vietnamese characteristics. Most of them have been recognised as canonical cai luong and have been staged many times by different generations at home and abroad.

For his contributions, he was awarded the Ho Chi Minh Prize by the Government in 1996.

VNS