Veteran and young actors from HCM City Theatre’s Association are working together to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Vietnamese drama. The event began on October 26 and will run until later this month. — Photo courtesy of the HCM City Theatre Association

HCM CITY — Veteran and young artists from the HCM City Theatre Association are working together to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Vietnamese drama.

The event began on October 26 and will run until later this month. 

Drama clubs and theatres have offered a series of TV drama shows and music concerts featuring the industry’s history and development in the South. 

Actors of Lạc Long Quân Drama Stage and 5B Small Theatre, the city’s leading private troupes have staged comedies and drama plays highlighting patriotism and honesty, as well as themes about love and women. 

These shows have attracted young talents such as Huỳnh Quý, Thanh Tuấn and Kim Đào. 

Online seminars and forums about Vietnamese drama have also been organised and released on HCM City Television, provincial TV and radio stations in the region.

Artists from 5B Small Theatre, one of HCM City’s private drama troupes. — Photo courtesy of 5B Small Theatre

Highlighted events include the forum called Tinh Hoa Hội Tụ 100 Năm Sân Khấu Kịnh Nói Việt Nam (Famous Artists and 100 years of Vietnamese Drama). It will be organised by the HCM City Theatre Artists’ Association in co-operation with its partners at HCM City Light Music Centre on November 18.

It will feature People’s Artist Kim Cương, a veteran actress, director and producer who has more than 50 years of experience in theatre. 

Cương began her professional career in Sài Gòn (now HCM City) when she was 17. She has been involved in cải lương (reformed opera), a genre of traditional theatre in the South. 

In the 1960s, Cương decided to switch to the modern version of theatre, an imported genre, after learning the art, thus creating a new southern style of theatre.

She opened the Kim Cương Drama Troupe, managing a staff of 70 including young talents, and staged dozens of quality plays on topics like love, family and social problems.

She and her troupe worked hard and managed to make the southern-style drama popular even among cải lương (reformed theatre) fans. 

Their plays highlighted the culture and lifestyles of the south. 

Cương wrote 50 plays in all, mostly about poor women. Many of her plays are still staged today. 

For her contribution to the theatre, Cương was honoured with the title People's Artist by the Government in 2012.

“Cương’s plays offers Vietnamese drama in the style of the South,” said theatre director and critic Thanh Hiệp of the city-based newspaper Người Lao Động (Labourer). “Her art helped breathe life into plays.” 

“I hope seminars and forums on Vietnamese drama by the association will create opportunities to introduce the art to young people,” said Meritorious Artist and drama director Mỹ Uyên of 5B Small Theatre. — VNS