Orientation of modern topics and great people's legacy

Reporter (PV):

Colonel, People's Artist Vu Tu Long: With the Army Cheo Theatre, we always choose themes that breathe life and have clear historical and political values. Currently, we have two plays about two leaders, carrying two very clear messages.

Colonel, People's Artist Vu Tu Long received the Gold Medal for the play "Nguyen Van Cu - Great Youth" at the 2025 National Cheo Festival.

The first is the image of a revolutionary soldier before the Communist Party was born, through the play about the late General Secretary Nguyen Van Cu with the play: "Nguyen Van Cu - Youth with great ambitions".

The second is the image of a revolutionary soldier in the renovation period, about the late Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet, in the play "The Firelighters".

PV:

Colonel, People's Artist Vu Tu Long: The late Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet left behind valuable legacies for the younger generation, especially his platform and policies, with spectacular breakthroughs and focused, strategic developments during the renovation period.

In particular, the 500kV ultra-high voltage line project is a project that has transformed the industrialization and modernization of the South, creating a major transformation of the country. His thoughts and legacy remain valuable today, serving as a solid foundation for our Party and State to develop the economy, integrate internationally and globalize. We hope that this play will be a project to welcome the upcoming National Party Congress.

Scene from the play about the late General Secretary Nguyen Van Cu.

Decoding the appeal of Cheo art to the young generation

PV:

Colonel, People's Artist Vu Tu Long: Contemporary topics are always a big challenge. Our young audience, mostly young soldiers, watch quickly and understand quickly. It is difficult for them to sit for 2-3 hours to watch a movie in one sitting. Therefore, there must be more dramatic elements, more conflicts, psychological elements must be exploited, and importantly, it must reflect the reality of life.

PV:

Colonel, People's Artist Vu Tu Long: The story of playing and singing is not new. From previous plays, specifically in "The Song of National Defense", Mr. Tao Mat has collected many genres, from Ly Hanh Van to folk songs from three regions, and put them into Cheo. The most important thing is not whether the play is good or has a lot of songs, but that we can keep the audience. They watch and still recognize it as Cheo, that is success. If we promote and develop Cheo, we must bring in the breath of today's life.

Scene from the play "The Firelighters" about Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet.

We still have “Quan Am Thi Kinh”, “Luu Binh Duong Le”… but we also have plays that bear the mark of today’s life. All are transformed into politicians, clowns become chefs, cashiers, nurses… That is, developing from the ancient model of Cheo, but with the breath of life. I believe that will help Cheo gain young audiences.”

PV:

Colonel, People's Artist Vu Tu Long: It is true that the number of young authors who can write about the nation is not much, we almost have to take works to adapt. But I think, the more difficult it is like this, the more we need people who are truly passionate and qualified to find new sources of motivation for Cheo. We have to "seal the sand to find gold" and concentrate our forces to train writers for the stage.

PV:

Colonel, People's Artist Vu Tu Long: Every year, we always have creative campaigns on the theme of revolutionary war and armed forces. The scripts sent in will be upgraded, preserved, invested in and developed by the authors to serve the soldiers and political tasks. Although our strength is the military theme, we still lack contemporary folk themes to include.

Army Cheo Theater won many awards at the 2025 National Cheo Festival.

PV:

Colonel, People's Artist Vu Tu Long: The number of competitions nowadays is too much, leading to a lack of focus and a stagnation in the motivation to strive for titles. Moreover, organizing in places too close together causes units to come and perform and then leave, without time to watch and learn from each other to enrich the profession.

I think we need to have competitions that we organize in a separate, isolated and far away place. Just the fact that thousands of actors watch each other is already a great motivation. This is not only for the audience, but also for colleagues to improve, review and test new factors in the Cheo industry. Especially in the current period of streamlining and merging units, we need the passion from quality exchanges to maintain the profession.

PV:

    Source: https://www.qdnd.vn/van-hoa/doi-song/dai-ta-nghe-si-nhan-dan-vu-tu-long-cheo-linh-luon-mang-hoi-tho-cuoc-song-1010718