Minh Cường (left) and Kiều Oanh perform in The Magic Trick, portraying a clever farming couple whose lives are upended when a royal princess falls ill after swallowing a fish bone. — Photo Đoàn Tùng

Nguyễn Mỹ Hà

Nguyễn Kiều Oanh clawed her way back into the spotlight on January 31, shining in the leading role of the contemporary Vietnamese tuồng classic opera The Magic Trick at Hồng Hà Theatre in Hà Nội’s Old Quarter

She played Thị Cua, or Ms Crab, the wife of a farmer with seven children, whose sharp wit and moral clarity not only turned her husband’s life upside down but also shook the royal court and its mandarin hierarchy, exposing bureaucratic stagnation and corruption.

“It’s a comedy, a very smart role, I loved it,” Oanh told The Weekend before the show.

Laughter with a sharp edge

For the next two hours, the trick initiated by Thị Cua to retaliate against her husband after the lashes she received sent the audience from one burst of laughter to another, while laying bare deeper social ills — from a spoiled princess to corrupt and self-serving court officials.

It was a great show, though with less singing and dancing than a traditional tuồng classic.

“For classical performing arts like tuồng, only age-old opera could lead spectators to the theatre,” said Tuấn Việt, a tuồng artist based at Đào Tấn Tuồng Theatre.

Conveniently located in the Old Quarter, Hồng Hà Theatre stages weekend performances, yet there was no billboard or flashing sign indicating what was being shown inside.

The audience filled only about a third of the two-storey theatre, but those who attended were keen, enthusiastic and attentive — mostly young people, alongside a handful of elderly Vietnamese and foreign expatriates.

With the traditional music band playing in the pit, the performance exuded an intimate, authentic atmosphere, shifting seamlessly between joy and solemnity as the story moved from comedy to critique.

Growing up with tuồng

Born and raised in the Mai Dịch residential area, where artists once lived, Oanh often watched tuồng performers rehearse near her home. Her mother was a singer specialising in Huế traditional music, performing hundreds of songs and recording for the Voice of Việt Nam radio.

“Today sometimes you can still hear her voice on the radio’s traditional music hours,” she said.

CLEVER COUPLE: The Magic Trick tells the story of a wise farming couple who navigate the royal court while exposing malpractice and corruption. — VNS Photo Đoàn Tùng

Mai Dịch can be dubbed “Hà Nội’s Artists’ District”, home to three major traditional performing arts institutions: tuồng, chèo and cải lương. Children born there often go on to study at the Việt Nam Dance Academy or the Theatre and Cinema College.

“I fell in love with tuồng before I even knew it,” Oanh said. At 17, she auditioned, passed, and began formal training. Two years later, she met her future husband — and tuồng soon drew her fully into its demanding embrace.

“Life was very difficult for us in the early 1990s — a young couple with a child,” she recalled. “My husband is a drummer in the band, so we travelled constantly and left our child with my parents.

“We lived on my husband’s modest government salary. I was on contract and paid very little. I had to take on extra singing jobs. At times, we had serious conversations about whether to stay or quit.”

A calling reaffirmed

A month-long professional workshop in Đà Nẵng then turned everything towards where Oanh should go.

“It was a great workshop where I got to learn with People’s Artist Hòa Bình from Đào Tấn Tuồng Theatre in the then Bình Định Province. Our troupes from the north got to learn from southern masters and southern artists learned from the north as our repertoires are not similar," Oanh said.

At the end of the workshop, each troupe had to present a new work. Oanh was selected to perform the lead role in Kỷ Lan Anh Mất Mẹ (Kỷ Lan Anh Loses Her Mother).

“After that trip, I never thought about quitting anymore. Maybe the predecessors of this craft sent me into the arms of Ms Hòa Bình. I’m ever grateful to her.”

She still keeps in contact with the veteran artist and passes on that lineage when coaching younger performers.

Now in her early 50s, Emeritus Artist Kiều Oanh, who received the title in 2015, continues to play leading roles. In tuồng, such roles can range from a teenage boy to an elderly man — and several female characters in between — sometimes within a single performance.

“I still need to work on my roles every day, rehearse the moves and think about them. In this craft, we have to keep working. I have performed full-house shows of the classic Sơn Hậu for three hours and no one left the room," she said.

“I hope contemporary operas like The Magic Trick will one day have many full-house shows for many years in the future. I believe it will happen soon in my life on stage here in Hà Nội theatres.

“I have toured schools where children lined up with a pen and a piece of paper asking for my autograph. When these children grow up, they will definitely recall their childhood memories.

“And when I perform abroad, I see how deeply international audiences appreciate our traditional arts.”

Sometimes, you have to travel far into the world to truly recognise the value of what you carry with you — VNS