Award-winning actors from the Trần Hữu Trang Cải Lương Theatre will perform in Nhân Danh Công Lý (In the Name of Justice), a new cải lương version adapted from a famous drama staged in Hà Nội in the 1980s and 1990s. The play is by Meritorious Artist and scriptwriter Quế Anh and theatre director Phan Quốc Kiệt. — Photo from Trần Hữu Trang Cải Lương Theatre

HCM CITY — The drama Nhân Danh Công Lý (In the Name of Justice), a production co-written by Doãn Hoàng Giang and Võ Khắc Nghiêm, will be restaged as a cải lương (reformed opera) version more than 30 years after its first release.

The theme of the 120-minute work centres on honesty, betrayal, corruption and justice.  

It portrays the lives of innocent people who go to jail because of wrong judgments made by corrupt officials.      

The play was considered one of the best works of its kind in the 1980s and 1990s, and its messages are still topical today. 

Since its debut by the Việt Nam Theatre in Hà Nội in 1985, the play has been staged many times by drama troupes in the country.

The play will be restaged by Meritorious Artist and scriptwriter Quế Anh and theatre director Phan Quốc Kiệt of Trần Hữu Trang Cải Lương Theatre of HCM City, one of the South’s leading State-owned traditional art troupes. 

Kiệt and Quốc worked together to rewrite and direct the play in its cải lương version.

“Nhân Danh Công Lý was written for drama and its spirit is still in the minds of theatre lovers of different generations,” Kiệt said in an interview with local media. “We faced challenges to meet the demands of both audiences and theatre critics.”   

This new version is performed by actors from the Trần Hữu Trang Cải Lương Theatre and is targeted to young audiences.

It stars Võ Thành Phê, Điền Trung and Mỹ Hằng, winners of regional and national cải lương contests and festivals. 

“I decided to restage a play in the northern style because I wanted to bring a fresh wind to cải lương, a genre of southern theatre which began 100 years ago,” said Kiệt, adding that his actors had worked hard to improve their vocal and acting skills.

Hoàng Thu Vân from Phú Nhuận District said: "My parents enjoyed Nhân Danh Công Lý when it debuted in Hà Nội. I will take them to the play to get a taste of what cải lương is like."

The cải lương version will be staged at 8pm on Sunday (November 24) and every weekend at Trần Hữu Trang Cải Lương Theatre on 136 Trần Hưng Đạo Street in District 1. — VNS