HÀ NỘI - People's Artist Trần Bảng, a celebrated Chèo director, composer and researcher, known as "the contemporary Chèo tycoon", has passed away at the age of 97.

People's Artist Trần Bảng passed away at the age of 97 in Hà Nội. Photo cand.com.vn

People's Artist Trần Bảng was born in 1926 in Vĩnh Bảo District, Hải Phòng, and is a famous Chèo director, composer and researcher, known as a "Chèo tycoon".

He is the person who found and preserved many ancient Chèo plays and supported Chèo artists, adapting and reconstructing many classic plays such as Quan Âm Thị Kính (Goddess of Mercy), Xúy Vân (Ms Xúy Vân), and Cô Tấm (Ms Tấm).

Throughout his life as a Chèo director and composer, the play he was most devoted to was Goddess of Mercy, which he restored three times in 1957, 1968 and 1985.

In 1953, he collaborated with artists Năm Ngũ and Dịu Hương to create the play Chị Trầm (Sister Trầm) - the first modern play of the revolutionary Chèo stage.

He also staged many contemporary Chèo plays such as Lọ nước thần (Spirit of Water Bottle), Tình rừng (Forest Love), Cờ giải phóng (Liberation Flag), Máu chúng ta đã chảy (Our blood has flowed) and Đường đi đôi ngả (Double Way).

He wrote several books on Chèo research such as Essay on Chèo, Chèo Performance Technique, and Chèo - A Phenomenon of National Theater.

Trần Bảng is one of the founders of the Central Union of People's Literature. He was one of the people who laid the first bricks to build and be the Director of the Việt Nam Chèo Theater.

He used to be the Director of the Theater Arts Department and the Deputy General Secretary of the Việt Nam Theater Artists Association.

Because of his tireless dedication to Chèo, he received many awards, including the State Prize for Literature and Arts in 2001, and the Hồ Chí Minh Prize in Literature and Arts in 2007.

The Chèo artist passed away at the age of 97 in Hà Nội on July 19 from pneumonia. VNS