Khách Sạn Hào Hoa (Brave Heart) is one of four classic cải lương (reformed opera) plays to be staged by the Trần Hữu Trang Cải Lương Theatre during July to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Sài Gòn-Gia Định being named after the late President Hồ Chí Minh (July 2, 1976-2026). — Photo courtesy of the theatre

HCM CITY — The Trần Hữu Trang Cải Lương Theatre, HCM City’s leading traditional art troupe, will stage four classic cải lương (reformed opera) plays during July to honour the nation's historical, cultural and artistic values.

The programme aims to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Sài Gòn-Gia Định being named after the late President Hồ Chí Minh (July 2, 1976-2026) and the theatre's 50th anniversary.

It is also an opportunity for the theatre to spread traditional values and nurture national pride and love for the homeland among the audience today and in the future through cải lương, a southern theatre genre that emerged in the early 1920s in the Mekong River Delta.

The programme will open with Khách Sạn Hào Hoa (Brave Heart), a production set during the resistance war about Vietnamese liberation fighters’ sacrifice for the country’s independence, which became famous in the 1980s.

The play is directed by People’s Artist Trần Ngọc Giàu, who has more than 35 years of experience in theatre.

The work highlights female communist secret agents who worked in Sài Gòn in the 1960s and displayed incredible patriotism, loyalty, bravery and intelligence. It depicts the agents’ secret activities and the risk of being discovered by enemy forces.

The show will be on July 5 at the theatre, at 135 Trần Hưng Đạo Street, Bến Thành Ward.

According to the theatre, Khách Sạn Hào Hoa is a compelling work rich in emotional nuances, promising to bring the audience meaningful and joyful moments. It is not only a performance but also an occasion to look back on the 50-year journey of preserving, promoting, and sharing the values of cải lương with contemporary audiences.

Trần Hữu Trang Theatre continues to present Tiếng Hò Sông Hậu (Folk Chants on the Hậu River), a play with a revolutionary theme, staged by female director Hoa Hạ, who has more than 40 years of experience in the industry, on July 18.

Written by playwright Điêu Huyền, the play was first performed in the early 1980s by the Sài Gòn 2 Cải Lương Troupe.

The work revolves around the lives of peasants in the South in the 1940s and their struggle against cruel and oppressive indigenous rulers and French colonialists. The peasants later joined the revolutionaries to rise and overthrow the feudal system and the colonialists.

The remaining two plays will be Tiếng Trống Mê Linh (The Sounds of Mê Linh Drums), portraying the two national heroines, the Trưng Sisters, who led the nation’s first resistance movement against Eastern Han Chinese occupation in AD40, and San Hô Đỏ (Red Coral), which pays tribute to the naval forces protecting the nation’s sovereignty over its seas and islands. — VNS