According to People’s Artist Bach Tuyet, she began to write, transform and direct plays from the losses and challenge in her life to covey beautiful messages to life in hopes of bringing comfort and soothing the suffering in people.
Reporter: Broadcasting and Media Production of Ho Chi Minh City is going to broadcast “House without a man” play in the evening of March 18. The play was transformed and directed by People’s Artist Bach Tuyet from the drama written by the late writer Ngoc Linh. What made you want to stage the cai luong version of “House without a man”?
– People’s Artist Bach Tuyet: The works of writer Ngoc Linh always have a theme behind the story. They are improvisation but filled with wisdoms, just like the way he improvised and created the scripts leading the audience going from one surprise to another. The literary flow in his works makes the audiences of any generation feel included, and the actors feel connected, thus helping them to present the characters ingeniously on the stage.
This is the time that cai luong needs contemporary plays. Despite it is an old script, the message that writer Ngoc Linh wanted to put in the “House without a man” is pretty much relavant to modern society. A woman with bitter enmity grew to hate men. She created a safe cradle for herself and her loved ones but lived a in solitude and selfish life.
You have achieved fame. You are recognized, admired and respected by colleagues and the public. Your achievements and talents are worthy of the title “A Precious Gem of Cai Luong”. It seems you do not want to stop here.
– I have received love from the audiences and I will continue devoting to keep that love lasting. I always view the stage as the “cathedral” of the actors, and as the “pilgrimage” of the fans.
Actors often say tears on the stage and in real life are the same, because … they are both salty. Color of the red carpet is also the color of blood. Doing arts means the actors sometimes have to shed blood and tears on the stage. You are an actress, a script writer, a writer of cai luong adaption, and now a director. All of these positions in one person, which position would you consider the most important?
Actress! I cry more after the performance and I can’t explain why.
Everything around me is not necessarily all pink. They were gained through many difficulties and bitter experiences. I often share them in the interviews or in public speakings, although not everyone can easily understand and appreciate the hidden corners behind the glamor, that I believe my hard work and heartfelt concerns have affected my roles and scripts in such a way that my characters are always filled with emotions on the stage.
When my mother passed away, I became an orphan. Someone suddenly claimed me as her abandoned daughter. The press rushed to criticize me for ignoring my mother. My father then invited the woman to his house to confront. I remember he only asked her one question: “When did I marry you?” She turned pale and walked away.
There are roles that touch the pain of the actor. When I recalled them, tears just poured down. The acting life has given and taken away so much from me. From the losses and challenge in my life, I began to write, adapted works of literature into cai luong, and directed plays to covey beautiful messages to life in hopes of bringing comfort and soothing suffering in people.
People’s Artist Bach Tuyet
Cai luong is turning to 100 years old. Your eminence is the sweetness that any actor wishes to earn. Unfortunately, the golden age of cai luong has passed, the stage withered. You had many suggestions and strategies to keep cai luong from being eroded, but then …
After each show, behind the makeup comes a weary face of the actor. The fate behind the curtain is very scary. The development strategy for cai luong must be planned and executed so that the fear does not reign in the actors. We sing today, not knowing whether we can sing again tomorrow. The distress keeps repeating over and over because the theatrical stage lack of attention and investment. The situation is not much different from the condition the character is in. The actors cry and laugh for the fate of their life which only they themselves know.
I put efforts to bring a new play on the stage, but finding a good script is like … discovering gold. Audiences today very delicate, the play must reflect the depth and explore the life of a complex person behind hardships.
I am happy to see many projects are underway to celebrate 100 years of cai luong from North to South. I believe this is the golden opportunity for everyone in the performing arts to manifest the portrait and essence of cai luong in the modern time. The portrait must be shown in a new form of presentation, and the essense must reflect the thinking of today’s people. Audiences do not want to go to the theater to cry and laugh with ancient kings and queens, or listen to songs with outdated content.
The mindset of cai luong must be new to encourage the management team and actors to be more dynamic. “Ngan Mai Chuong Vang” show of HTV to this point has to be contemporary and attractive so that the audience do not leave the screen or switch channels. There are numerous entertainment shows waiting for them.
People’s Artist Bach Tuyet and the cast of “House without a man”
Choosing young cast members for the play “House without a man” (Hồ Ngọc Trinh, Võ Thành Phê, Mỹ Hằng, Mỹ Linh, Hoàng Oanh, Điền Trung, Kim Hằng, Phạm Vũ Thành), who don’t have much experience in performing contemporary plays, would you be confident in this remake? Will they shine after this performance?
Being free from restricted posture and movements, a young actor will not be constrained. To elevate emotion, an actor takes time to grasp the literary scenario, observe life to be able to bring their feelings and torment toward society into the characters. Young actors today do not have stages to practice, but they are very energetic and have access to a lot of information.
I teach them how to refine and process information, and how to select the most subtle fact to apply into the role. Standing in the classroom for many years and applying the teaching techniques from my teachers, People’s Artists Phung Ha and Nam Chau, I had many opportunities to guide young actors to conduct their career professionally and ethically.
What do you expect of young actors when they take control of the stage theater?
I have many students, at least 2/3 of the young actors are my students. They have a responsibility on their shoulders to carry on this significant cultural heritage. There is lot of pressure on them while the means to preserve and nurture the traditional art are weakened and unbalanced, not to mention that our stages are so outdated compared to the advanced stage technologies in other countries in the region. Our actors would make fantastic achievements if they had access to proper tools, such as modern theaters and advanced instruments. We do not lack talents from the management to professionals. Do not ruin our young actors with the command “Just do it, and stop whining.”
"Nowadays, finding a good script is like discovering gold." - People's Artist Bach Tuyet.
Plenty of messages of love and compassion
People's Artist Bach Tuyet said she always looks at the writings of the late writer Ngoc Linh from the audience perspective and receives a companion's empathy from the author. The stage theater has undergone 100 years of formation and development in which the writer Ngoc Linh had contributed as a scriptwriter and a reporter. As a critic, he had laid the foundation and worked with many colleagues to define aesthetics of the stage.
"His works demonstrated plenty of messages of love and encouraged people to care for each other. In the digital age, we spend most of our time on the phone. In this virtual world, everything has a great impact and creates tremendous pressure on many people. The play "House without a man" brought a good message - empathy, sharing, tearing off selfishness and hatred to reach out a better life." - People's Artist Bach Tuyet shared.
Thanh Hiep – Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper (18/03/2018)