"Courage" recreating Kieu's life on the puppet stage, the Vietnam National Puppetry Theater artist brings a work that promises to "create waves" to the upcoming 2019 International Experimental Theater Festival 2019 at Hanoi.
The story of Kieu by the great poet Nguyen Du is too famous for people to know its content, and the characters who have been embedded in the cultural and social life have become symbols in the minds of Vietnamese people. Therefore, each time enjoying a reenacted artwork activity, based on or inspired by the Story of Kieu, the public pays attention to how unique, attractive, revitalizing, or how unique it is to express. sow more emotions, new and impressive awareness ... Failure to reach the ability to attract, to continue living with classics, that event will only be normal, pass, sometimes be laughed at ...
But what "followed" Kieu, voices responding to Nguyen Du in the past - "Aggressive tri-adulthood / People cries for To Nhu" still sprouted, as a miraculous example of inspiration, stimulate creativity. Therefore, there may have been pressure on the crew who staged the puppet show "The fate of Kieu" right from the script stage to the last rehearsals, reports and performances for the past few days, at the Vietnam National Puppetry Theater. But it is a pressure of happiness. And it seems that the pressure has been partly transformed into the enjoyment of the audience with certain surprise, excitement and satisfaction.
Puppet designs of painter Le Dinh Nguyen has become a mark of the play with portraits of character vividly portrayed. In the crude, rustic, close to traditional art, there is the essence of the idea to create a certain character, the kind of person in the world. It is the fat, brazen look of Tu Ba's "light-skinned" look with a plump, deformed face with wine - but not wine - when peeking in front of her chest. That was So Khanh - two-faced, just flipping the white student's face and immediately saw the deceit through another disgraceful face divided into two. It was Tu Hai with a rough, thick face, a big, straightforward look with glowing eyes and square uniform - showing her frank body and personality, Giac Duyen has a benevolent lotus face. . And other characters ...
These forms, being "lived" by the effort to control can be said to be difficult with many fast movements, strong, matched and very "imported" voice of the actors, many characters must be controlled by two artists. Here, the exaggerated speech timbre of the puppet art has been brought into full play.
Of course, it must convey the language part that the two authors, the author Le Chuc and writer Nguyen Hieu, elaborated on the basis of following the poems and poetic ideas of the masterpiece. There is an interesting dialogue that conveys modern colors like between Tu Ba and So Khanh. Or the noisy scene with mixed words but both disgusting and liking of the barn-owl herd. There is a passionate, drastic and emotional dialogue between Tu Hai and Thuy Kieu's four-chord lute ...
Also there, in line with the words, there was also the deliberate sophistication of the director of People's Artist Nguyen Tien Dung and the artists in organizing actions, coordinating movements and gestures of characters. People are clearly up and down, showing dignity and tough bravery. The person who lurks, pokes out and hides suddenly appears, turns out to be malefactor. Others tossed me toss, jump and jump jokingly, deceitful. Someone flaunts his sexual habits, but when he is overturned, he will be restless, motionless, and back down. Someone is miserable, but his moderation is full of intend, hiding sinister schemes ... The rhythm of the play is fast, flexible, connecting continuously, from single performances of one character to the lines of double, three, more, to bustling, filling the stage. The director gives viewers the feeling that everyone has their own business, from the silk salesman to the whole ... barn-owl herd specializing in "chit chat", calculating the life by scolding, fabricating and harming people, self-profit.
In addition to a few points to consider, less narration, comments, and the use of white silk are still abundant, sometimes cumbersome, or the picture of the brush is not ... beautiful. “The fate of Kieu" proves an effect that is not easy to do for a long time, which is to convince adults how to persuade, to convey the spirit and experience of living in the "mature world".
Hopefully, the play will be performed a lot not only at the theater, but also to other places, for the public and the profession to enjoy and refer. Expecting new imprints in the career perspective of the director of People's Artist Tien Dung and the crew for the change of the Vietnam National Puppetry Theater
Source: People's Newspaper Online
Author: Quang Hung
