Students of English at the HCMC Open University will perform dramas in English adapted from American literary works at the HCMC Drama Theater in downtown HCMC on December 9, 15, 16 and 23.

Students of English at the HCMC Open University perform the play “Atonement” in English in downtown HCMC last year

The performances are part of the “Theater in Education” program that starts on December 2 and concludes on December 23.

On the evening of December 9, those interested can come to the theater to watch two plays – “Lollita” by Vladimir Nabokov and “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett – from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. and from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. respectively.

Highlights of the program are “My Sister’s Keeper” by Jodi Picoult and “Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Bronte respectively staged from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. and from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. on December 15. 

My Sister’s Keeper is a bittersweet story about Anna, a genetically engineered girl designed to be a genetic match for her sister Kate, who has acute leukemia. Anna has been giving blood and bone marrow to Kate since her early childhood. Now that she is under pressure to give a kidney, Anna wants to sue her parents for the right to own her body.

Meanwhile, the second play tells a story of Jane Eyre, an orphaned and isolated ten-year-old girl who grew up in the home of her heartless aunt and at a harsh charity school. She becomes a determined Christian who is passionate and strongly principled with huge conscience. She is once thought to be happily settled with her true love, but Jane’s life seems to be filled with too many adversities and challenges before ending up with the eventual rewards.

On December 16, the students will stage two plays, “And Then There Were None” by Agatha Christie from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. and “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. respectively.

Two dramas to wrap up the event on December 23 are “Me Before You” by Jojo Moyes and “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens.

The first drama depicts a story about Louisa Clark moving from one job to the next to help her family make ends meet. Her cheerful attitude brings her a surprise when she becomes a caregiver for Will Traynor, a wealthy young banker with a cynical outlook who is left paralyzed from an accident two years earlier.   

The second play covers a story of Ebenezer Scrooge, an old miser who is visited by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley on Christmas Eve. The miserably cursed ghost warns Scrooge of the heavy sufferings that Scrooge is going to bear in the afterlife for his greed and selfishness. After the ghost’s visit, Scrooge is transformed into a kind and gentle man. 

Le Quang Truc, an English-language lecturer of the HCMC Open University who has come up with the idea of using dramas to teach foreign literature, told the Daily in an interview that he has a strong passion and endless love for drama and wishes to use drama as a means to assist his students to delve into American literature and culture.

Drama performances have been in place since 2009 with an aim to nurture the love for English-language literary works among students of English, boost their language proficiency, create a playground for students in the school to show off their talent for art, and promote the image of the HCMC Open University, Truc added.  

The shows are expected to attract some 500 spectators each night at the HCMC Drama Theater, 30 Tran Hung Dao Street, District 1, HCMC.

Previously, the university organized Oscar Wilde’s Night featuring two plays: “The Happy Princess” and “The Nightingale and the Rose” for 500 spectators in November 2012; a Drama Week 2015 from December 24 to 29 featuring 14 dramas from three classes of American literature; and the Theater in Education, English Literature 2016 which attracted around 800 students, teachers, representatives from foreign diplomatic corps and media on June 4-5, 2016.

SGT