VietNamNet Bridge – The culture ministry has decided to facilitate regular drama, chamber music and traditional opera shows at the Ha Noi Opera House beginning this Autumn.

Performance tradition: Artists from Viet Nam Cai Luong Theatre perform on stage. Traditional operas will be regularly performed at Ha Noi’s Opera House beginning this September.

The move aims to provide audiences with high-quality performances in the historic Opera House right in downtown Ha Noi.

It is also an answer to recent public complaints that the Opera House has hosted too few high-quality shows.

Starting in September, the Viet Nam Symphony Orchestra, Viet Nam Drama Theatre and Viet Nam Cheo (Traditional Opera) Theatre will take turns performing at the Opera House.

Artist Thanh Ngoan, director of the Viet Nam Cheo Theatre, said the theatre’s performance schedule will include award-winning plays at national theatre festivals. By 2017, the theatre will perform there every Saturday and Sunday.

The Viet Nam Tuong (Traditional Drama) Theatre will launch performances on October 30 and November 2, while the Viet Nam Cai Luong (Reformed Opera) Theatre will start performing in October.

"The Opera House is a golden venue with a good location and magnificent architecture," said Pham Ngoc Tuan, director of the Viet Nam Tuong Theatre. "The ministry’s decision gives us motivation to practise to give the best performance."

"If it weren’t for the minister’s decision, traditional drama artists like us would not have dared to dream for a show at the Opera House, as the rental fee is too high," he said.

Located just a few metres away from the Opera House, artists from the Viet Nam Drama Theatre have no proper stage of their own.

Their own stage has been transformed into a small rehearsal hall at the theatre’s headquarters, 1 Trang Tien Street. Most of the time, artists perform at the nearby Cong Nhan Theatre at 42 Trang Tien Street.

“We cannot afford to pay the rental fee of VND30-40 million (US$1,300-1,800) per nightly show,” said Nguyen The Minh, director of the Viet Nam Drama Theatre. “Our ticket income will never be enough to make ends meet if we rent the Opera House. That’s why we rarely perform there.”

According to artist Kieu Ngan, deputy director of the Viet Nam Symphony and Opera Theatre, opera houses in other countries are venues for top performing artists and are always the pride of their citizens.

 “Our Opera House, in contrast, has rarely hosted such shows for the public, or only hosted invited-only shows in the past few years,” she said.

Artist Pham Anh Phuong, director of the same theatre, said the ministry’s plan is a good one.

“It’s an effective way to transmit artistic messages to audiences,” he said, “We don’t want to perform one or two nights, but several shows per month.”

While organisers of traditional performing arts have found it difficult to sign contracts that cover rental at the Opera House, various pop singers from overseas have been able to perform there in recent years because they can sell tickets at high prices.

“If tickets to traditional arts shows are charged at higher prices in order to cover the venue rental, no one would come see them,” said Tuan, director of the Viet Nam Tuong Theatre.

Preserving the arts: Artists from the Viet Nam Symphony Orchestra perform at the Ha Noi Opera House. The Opera House will regularly host high-quality cultural shows soon following a decision by the culture ministry. VNA/VNS Photos Minh Duc

The Opera House was completed by the French in 1911 with an aim of bringing classical performing arts to both well-to-do Vietnamese and French people.

While completing the construction in 1990, architects Ho Thieu Tri and Hoang Dao Kính noted that the total 600 seats would not allow shows to be presented to a large audience.

“Actually too many different activities have been organised at the Opera House, including award ceremonies of various sectors and schools,” said historian Duong Trung Quoc. “We should stop using the Opera House for so many kinds of activities. It’s necessary to think about using the venue for suitable arts.”

The ministry has assigned the Performing Arts Department to work with 12 theatres managed by the ministry to draft performing schedules through the end of the year.

Le Huong

VNS