Le Ngoc Theater: Bringing Back the Audience
Le Ngoc Theater founded by People's Artist Le Ngoc, the first socialized stage in North Vietnam, has defied the odds. New traditional plays consistently sell out, offering a bright light for the revival of Vietnamese cultural identity.
The "Phenomenon" of the Le Ngoc Theater
In 2019, the Le Ngoc Theater premiered the play "Chi Pheo and Thi No," which was warmly received by the audience with over 100 sold-out performances. Notably, also in that year, the play was performed at the Ghione Theater in Italy, marking the beginning of bringing Vietnamese theater to Europe.
Two years later, in 2021, two other plays by the Le Ngoc Theater, “De men” (The Grasshopper) and “Lam Vua” (The King) also became theatrical phenomena with over 20 consecutive performances without a single empty seat. 2023 saw the most plays by the Le Ngoc Theater being submitted for competitions and participating in professional activities abroad. The plays “Ngu bien” (The Five Transformations) and “De men” (The Grasshopper) were performed at the ASEAN- China Intangible Cultural Heritage Week (held in Nanning); the play "Dam cuoi con gai chuot” (Wedding of The Rat's Daughter) was performed at the Asian Festival of Children's Content (AFCC) 2023 in Singapore; the plays "La don thu 72” (The 72nd Petition) and "Loi Vu” (Thunderstorm) were performed at the 10th China-ASEAN (Nanning) Theater Week and won Gold Medals.
The play "The 72nd Petition" - a classic work of the Le Ngoc Theater that has won countless awards at domestic and international festivals and performances - has just completed its 140th performance. This is a record number in the current difficult context of the theater scene.
In April 2024, this play was performed in the neighboring country of Laos. Throughout the two days of performances in Vientiane, the play attracted thousands of spectators, opening up expectations for Vietnamese theater performances for audiences in Southeast Asia.
Telling Old Stories in New Ways
The Le Ngoc Theater is the first socialized theater model in Hanoi. In recent years, while public theaters have faced many difficulties, the Le Ngoc Theater has always been sold out with a dense performance schedule. The Le Ngoc Theater was founded in 2013 with the original name of Le Ngoc Theater Club, part of the Vietnam National Drama Theater. In 2016, People's Artist Le Ngoc retired, the Le Ngoc Theater Club was separated and became the first socialized theater stage in the North with the patronage of the Vietnam Theater Artists Association and the Vietnam Business Culture Association.
As a pioneer in socializing theatrical performances in a land where audiences are not used to paying for tickets, especially for a type of cultural product that had previously been turned their backs on, People's Artist Le Ngoc faced many difficulties in the early stages. The first problem that Le Ngoc had to change to sell tickets for these theatrical products was to research the tastes of today's audiences, thereby finding ways to "renew an old product". In business language, Le Ngoc sought to create a supply in line with the motto "always clinging to the audience".
"We don't stand still and wait for the audience. The audience now, especially young people, have too many things to attract them, so getting them interested in values that have been far away from them for centuries is not easy," said Le Ngoc.
Taking the time to research the market, Le Ngoc realized that with the developing forms of entertainment today, what the audience needs is a simple but refined spiritual meal. This is a challenge because the cumbersome, ornate style that lacks the subtle values still exists as a characteristic of traditional drama. To overcome this challenge, the Le Ngoc Stage "must tell old stories in new ways".
The first "new way" the theater did was to renew the old script, expressing contemporary features in the chosen folk scripts. After the new script, it is necessary to find a team with a new and creative mindset, that is, a new director, new actors and even the team leader must always be renewed.
Le Ngoc Theater offers a diverse range of performances that cater to both adult and young audiences. Combining a new mindset with an educational element, it is easier to convey messages through each play to children. Serving children to nurture the next generation of theater audiences is the mission that Le Ngoc and the stage that bears her name always strive for in the journey to find an audience for Vietnamese theater.
While the pioneering path was not easy, with the right vision and strategy, the Le Ngoc Theater has now become a theater brand that is always full of lights and sold out whenever a play is scheduled to be performed./.
Story: Thao Vy Photos: Viet Cuong/VNP & Files Translated by Hong Hanh