VietNamNet Bridge – A conference about the late playwright Luu Quang Vu was held on Monday (Aug 20), honouring his significant contribution to the development of Vietnamese stage art.

Classic: A scene in Hon Truong Ba, Da Hang Thit play of Luu Quang Vu.

The late playwright and poet composed 53 short and long plays, hundred of poems, short stories and articles about stage art.

His works are considered timeless. His plays are adapted for a range of art forms, including cheo (traditional Vietnamese opera), cai luong (reformed opera), water puppetry and drama. 

Participating writers, poets, researchers along with Vu’s family discussed his career.

“Thirty years after the death of the playwright, Luu Quang Vu is the playwright that has the most number of works. After the sudden death of the ‘Luu Quang Vu phenomenon’, Vietnam hasn’t seen any writer that can fill the gap that he left,” Chairman of Viet Nam Stage Artists Association, Le Tien Tho said at the conference.

Tho said Vu died at a very young age of 40 yet in his short life, he worked passionately, sparking the flame of creativity for other writers.

Luu Khanh Tho, Vu’s younger sister said “Scriptwriting is the shortest path that Vu chose for himself to reach the audience and to express the things that he had been nurturing. Each drama is a facet of the reality where different fates are featured with various levels of emotions: joy, sadness, sorrow or happiness.

“His writings reflect the emotions, aspirations and concerns of the playwright about love, happiness as well as his thoughts about life and his forecast about life and death.

“His writing style is simple and natural. He can bring any topic to his works. His drama raises the voice of the popular – a director, a worker, a doctor, a homeless, a drunk or a vendor. Every walk of life can be featured in his works and become artistic icons conveying deep messages of life. The highlights of many works of Vu are the sense of humour in the characters that we can find in real life and in ourselves.”

Luu Quang Vu was born in 1948 in the northern province of Phu Tho. At the age of 20, his first poems were co-printed with famous poet Bang Viet. 

From 1978 to 1988, Vu worked as an editor of the San Khau (Stage) magazine and started composing his first drama Song Mai Tuoi 17 (Forever 17). Later he shook Vietnam’s stage art with a series of plays like Nang Sita (Sita), Hon Truong Ba, Da Hang Thit (Truong Ba’s Soul, Butcher’s Body) and Loi The Thu 9 (The Ninth Pledge).

Vu and his wife and son died in a traffic accident in 1988.

He was posthumously awarded one of the most prestigious prizes in art and literature in Vietnam, the Ho Chi Minh Prize for his play The Ninth Pledge. in 2000. 

Source: VNS