HCM CITY — The HCM City-based Hồng Vân Drama Troupe, a leading private theatre, is offering training courses in performance skills as the number of talented actors has declined in recent years.

Before joining the courses, candidates aged 18 to 26 will take part in selection rounds hosted by the theatre’s veteran artists.

Students will work with professional artists, including veteran actors of the Hồng Vân Drama Troupe, while attending class, and will have opportunities to perform in the theatre’s dramas and comedies.

They will be trained for different levels of performance.

“Our troupe’s new plays used modern techniques and were challenging for the young staff, including graduates of art schools such as HCM City University of Theatre and Cinematography and University of Culture, who are limited in performance and life skills,” said the troupe’s owner and People’s Artist Hồng Vân, who has more than 25 years on stage.

“To maintain the stage, we need more young, skilled performers,” Vân said in her interview with Tuổi Trẻ (Youth) Newspaper.

According to Vân, offering professional drama training has been part of her theatre’s activities for the last eight years so that “we can be recognised as a specialty art centre," she said.  

Last week, Vân offered certifications to 20 young artists who spent three years in training at the theatre.

These actors will perform in the troupe’s two latest plays, the drama Ám Ảnh Kinh Hoàng (Scared Obsession) and comedy Ngã Rẽ (The Side), which will be staged this summer.  

“We asked our students to spend at least three years to study the theatre because with less time artists will not have enough to improve their skills,” said theatre director and comic actor Minh Nhí, an acting lecturer at Hồng Vân Drama Troupe.

His best students, including Xuân Nghị, Trịnh Duy Anh, Lê Lộc and Quỳnh Hồ, will make their debut this season.

“I worked hard and have played small roles on stage with my teachers during training.  I believe I will win plaudits from audiences,” said Lê Lộc, a graduate of Hồng Vân Drama Troupe.

Lộc will play a leading role in Ngã Rẽ, which will be staged on June 1.   

In recent years, the performing arts scene has expanded rapidly with an increasing number of young talents achieving success in modern art forms, but traditional forms like drama, chèo (traditional opera) cải lương (reformed theatre) and tuồng (classical drama) have been ignored.

“Theatres, particularly private art troupes, should independently headhunt for and train their own staff of young performers,” said Vân, adding that traditional arts are particularly difficult to master.

"In theatre, you cannot perform unless you are properly trained," she said. — VNS