(CLO) Is there a phenomenon of "beating the drum to register" for creative writing camps, when the investment budget is not small but there are no statistics on how many scripts are used?
At a recent theater conference, playwright Le Quy Hien said that the lack of theater scripts is a very “hot” issue. In fact, through many theater festivals, theater units often choose to stage old scripts that have been staged many times.
Mr. Hien explained that to have a good stage play, there must be a good script, because “you can’t make glue without flour”. To solve the problem of lack of good scripts, many professional associations and management agencies have organized creative campaigns, opened creative camps and organized field trips.
A scene from the Vietnamese historical opera “Gia Dinh Citadel Epic” by Tran Huu Trang Theater. Photo: NLĐ
However, these field trips proved to be ineffective, which Mr. Hien assessed as only focusing on "visiting and listening to reports", things that could be found in books and newspapers.
To prove his point, playwright Le Quy Hien recounted a field trip to the Navy to write about the unnumbered ship Ho Chi Minh Trail at sea.
That day, the Navy organized and invited 17 veterans who had gone on the ship for the author to meet. The veterans sat below, the author and a commander sat above in the meeting room.
But how to “meet” when both sides do not know what to ask or provide in this heavily administrative space? Luckily, the deputy director of politics, Dinh Gia That, passed by and saw this scene, stepped in and decided on the spot: “Invite the author and the gentlemen to meet and chat at a coffee shop.”
So the “knots” were untied. At the coffee shop, the veterans, who had not seen each other for a long time, asked about each other, mentioned this person and that person, this story and that very naturally.
“The author sat around and added many vivid real-life details. If he needed more information, he asked specifically, and the authors were also excited to tell very detailed and detailed stories. Art needs vivid details, when real life is the “great author” that few authors can think of better,” Mr. Hien recounted.
Through this story, Mr. Hien concluded that literature and art are different from journalism; because journalism focuses on reflecting information while the object of reflection in theater is people, the lives of characters in action and dramatic conflict.
From there, the playwright expressed concern about whether there was a phenomenon of drumming up names for writing camps when the investment budget was also a lot of people's money but there were no statistics on how many scripts were used in each camp?
"There should be no need for large-scale visits and infiltrations, but rather for relevant agencies to select authors who are passionate about a certain issue in this topic to come, live, and work for the necessary time at the relevant unit," Mr. Hien suggested.
Sharing this view, director Duong Minh Giang also believes that experiencing reality is one of the ways to create different environments for authors to observe and think in order to inspire creativity.
“Through this, I hope that managers will pay more attention and care for script writers, helping them gain new and useful experiences, to create quality scripts that are closely related to reality,” director Duong Minh Giang expressed.
Scene from the play “Circle of Betrayal” by Hanoi Drama Theater. Photo: T.Tung
Some opinions said that there was a phenomenon of using old scripts in the name of “repairing and improving” to register for writing camps. Many authors participating in writing camps chose safe topics that did not have much life. When they were made into plays, the audience did not see themselves in them, because these topics had been discussed many years ago.
As for playwright Le Quy Hien, he said that the good news is that some theater writing camps have held meetings for authors to read to each other to exchange experiences, evoking the "outside chess, inside card" style.
However, Mr. Hien noted that this activity requires mutual respect in a truly open-minded spirit. Otherwise, giving feedback can easily become a matter of judging good or bad, winning or losing, and creating unnecessary conflicts.
T.Toan
Source: https://www.congluan.vn/bat-cap-trai-sang-tac-van-hoc-nghe-thuat-post332224.html
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