For many generations, tuong (Vietnamese classical drama) has played an important role in Vietnamese culture. However, with changes in modern times and new kinds of arts and cultures, tuong has been fading away.

“It is not just the age gap to blame,” Ta Van Sop, deputy director of the Vietnam Tuong Theatre, said, adding that there are many reasons for people to be indifferent.

Tuong is a theatrical art that is highly academic. Every action and performance of actors follows a convention and rule. For example, if 4-5 persons hold rattan whips on their hands and make horse-riding movements on the stage, a scene about the ferocious Mongol army can be recreated. Most of the dramas have classical stories, originating from ancient tales that not everyone knows or understands.

“If young people don’t have knowledge about classical references in dramas and don’t know what roles actors play, they won’t understand the art of tuong. If so, they don’t realize the beauty of tuong and won’t love tuong,” Sop said.

Sop said tuong needs to change to adapt to the taste of modern audiences, while theatres need to find solutions to bring the art closer to the public and show the beauty of the traditional opera.

In fact, the values and matters in tuong dramas are close to people’s lives, and the stories used for tuong dramas are not out of date as some people may think.

“At all times, people keep love for the country and have the sense of protection for their homeland. People of all times must be truthful, respect moral values, and observe common rules,” he said.

“The fidelity in love, love between husband and wife, and brotherhood, love for the fatherland, love for the people always exists," he added.

Tuong needs renovation, but it also needs to preserve the ‘soul’ of traditional art. These are the tasks that tuong theatres need to implement.

“The stories of modern daily life must be shown in tuong dramas and performed with the typical characteristics of this traditional opera. This is a difficult task which requires a lot of exertion,” Sop said.

In an effort to develop tuong and bring the traditional art closer to the public, his theatres have organized performances at schools, universities and junior colleges. The performance programs are short, but they help students better understand tuong, and raise curiosity and love for the national art.

“We are ‘training’ people to create audiences for ourselves,” Sop explained.

Le Tien Tho, People’s Artist, and chair of the Vietnam Theater Artists Association, cited President Ho Chi Minh's saying: "Tuong is very interesting, but it must be renovated."

“Tuong dramas mostly use materials from ancient stories. Who will like the dramas like these?” Tho said, adding that in order to develop the art of tuong, the language must approach Vietnamese in both poetry and dialogue. 

Also, the content of the plays must reflect modern issues of the public’s concern.

“People won’t spend two hours just to watch things that they don’t need or understand. Tuong theatre needs to be renovated as said by President Ho Chi Minh,” Tho said. 

“Tuong needs to preserve its soul and style, but it needs to be renovated to fit modern conditions, or modern rhythms. Artists need to learn how to compose and renovate dramas, while they must not let the long lasting cultural value of tuong opera disappear,” Tho said.

How to retain young artists? Training and retraining is also a matter of concern of the national tuong theatre because many artists of the theatres are going to retire and the theatre needs new talented artists.

However, Sop admitted that this is a challenge. In 2010-2015, his theatre cooperated with the Hanoi University of Theater and Cinema and sent staff to localities to seek young people for the theatre. They were well trained and became excellent artists.

However, retaining talented artists remains a difficult task. “To retain artists, it is necessary to offer them good pay, but the monthly salaries set by the state are very modest,” Sop said.

Anh Duc - Minh Tuan  - Huy Bao