Weekend Coffee: Getting to the Root of the Problem

According to the decision issued by the Government, three theaters under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, namely Vietnam Tuong Theater, Vietnam Cheo Theater, and Vietnam Cai Luong Theater, will officially merge "into one house" and operate under the new name of Vietnam National Traditional Theater.

The merger was completed before August 1, 2025, but in recent days, many experts on performing arts, theater leaders and representatives of cultural management agencies have spoken out about this. The discussions mainly suggest a possible better future for reformed opera, Tuong, and Cheo; what needs to be done so that "Cheo is still Cheo", "Cai Luong is still Cai Luong"..., maintaining its own uniqueness but harmonizing within a management entity, hoping for a breakthrough development of traditional art forms that are facing fierce competition from new forms of entertainment. Opinions raised necessary solutions, in addition to management issues, hoping that the State will increase investment, there is also building a team of actors, finding good scripts, promoting the quintessence of traditional art so that young people can understand and love... In general, these are often the problems that for a long time, for many reasons, we have not had an optimal, feasible solution.

Looking back at the golden age, thinking about the certain “indifference” of young people towards Cheo, Cai Luong, and especially Tuong nowadays, the biggest problem of these three genres is the distance in many aspects from the audience. The movement is no longer strong enough to “go harvest and perform right away” like before; there is no longer fierce competition between Tuong, Cheo, and Cai Luong troupes in the villages, so it is harder to choose talents, and the new audience is depleted. In the city, where there are tall, spacious, and beautiful theaters, not every place has the capacity to regularly renew the repertoire, or create enough contemporary folk art for young people to seek out...

Creativity in all related work, the spirit of innovation instead of following old stereotypes, that is what is needed to hope to bring back traditional art. Like the other day, when Phuong My Chi brought the nuances of tuong into a rather "hot" music competition work, someone after watching exclaimed that "Vietnamese culture is not easily outdated, it just needs to be told in the right way".

Source: https://hanoimoi.vn/ca-phe-cuoi-tuan-tim-goc-cua-van-de-708944.html