Meritorious Artist Title: An Honor After Years of Commitment to the Profession

Working enthusiastically and dedicating themselves to the art of Cheo, the artists of the theater, including those newly awarded the title of Meritorious Artist, strive to turn the honor into a driving force to strive, not to disappoint the trust of the State and the people.

Meritorious Artist Tran Xuan Du is famous for his cheo clown roles.

Cherish every career opportunity

Visiting the Thai Binh Cheo Theater when artists and actors of Group 1 were working hard to restore the ancient Cheo play "Quan Am Thi Kinh", we had the opportunity to meet and talk with Meritorious Artist Tran Xuan Du, actor of Group 1, deputy head of the theater's art department - one of the artists who was recently awarded the title of Meritorious Artist. After 37 years of working in the profession, the marks of time are deeply imprinted in the corners of his eyes. When talking about the art of Cheo, he was excited about many stories about the profession. Having a special talent and passion for Cheo clowns, according to him, that is an advantage because the elders still say "no clown can't perform Cheo" but it is also a big difficulty because many Cheo plays today do not have clown roles, and clown roles often do not have much "space to perform" so they are rarely considered for awards in national festivals. Identifying the difficulties, like many artists, he cherishes every opportunity to perform on stage, the result is 2 gold medals won in national Cheo festivals.

Meritorious Artist Tran Xuan Du shared: My first gold medal was after 22 years of working in the profession, which was the role of a clown soldier in the play "Bat nan tuong quan". Although not the main role, this role completed the elements of singing, dancing, acting and had enough time on stage to portray the character's fate and psychology. In addition, in my 32nd year of working in the profession, I had a main role to participate in the national Cheo festival, which was the role of Mr. Thien in the play "U van doi con ve". With each opportunity, I always cherish and make the most of it because that is also the way to work and love the profession seriously.

Admitting that he is the "older" generation at the current Cheo Theater, Meritorious Artist Tran Xuan Du hopes that through practice and performance activities, he can convey all the knowledge and experience that he has acquired from the previous generation of artists to the next generation so that "the children and grandchildren always understand and appreciate the unique characteristics of Thai Binh Cheo art, from which they can best preserve and promote it".

Meritorious Artist Tran Xuan Du (blue shirt) plays Thien in the play "U van doi con ve" won a gold medal at the national Cheo festival.

“No small roles”

Also having nearly the same number of years of dedication to traditional art as Meritorious Artist Tran Xuan Du, Meritorious Artist Nguyen Trong Vuong is currently an actor in Group 2, Thai Binh Cheo Theater. With 36 years of dedication to traditional art, of which more than 30 years at the Cai Luong troupe, artist Trong Vuong has achieved many roles that left an impression on the hearts of art lovers such as the role of Sau Meo in the play "Farewell to the erroneous times", the role of a servant in the play "The fool goes to collect debts from Buddha", the role of Bo De in the play "Princess Huyen Tran"... The success of his roles has helped him win 6 silver medals and 1 gold medal at national theater festivals and performances. With the belief that "there are no small roles, only artists who do not respect their roles", despite facing many difficulties after the Cai Luong troupe merged with the Cheo Theater, Meritorious Artist Nguyen Trong Vuong always strives to learn and assert himself in the new stage.

People's Artist Tran Anh Dien, head of troupe 2, Thai Binh Cheo Theater, said: With Cheo, artists have tried very hard to get acquainted with the stage script and practice from walking, dancing, dialogue and gestures to be most suitable. The good news is that there is only one national Cheo festival every 4 years, but Meritorious Artist Nguyen Trong Vuong, with his efforts, has also participated in the festival in 2022 in the Cheo play "Ky Dong Nguyen Van Cam". Currently, Meritorious Artist Nguyen Trong Vuong is trusted with secondary roles in Cheo.

Meritorious Artist Nguyen Trong Vuong (standing in the middle) with secondary roles in Cheo.

Wishing to contribute to spreading the art of Cheo

Belonging to the current generation of young artists of Thai Binh Cheo Theater, Meritorious Artist Nguyen Manh Ha, deputy head of troupe 1, was selected to join the theater in 1999. In 20 years of being attached to the art of Cheo, Meritorious Artist Nguyen Manh Ha has taken on many main and secondary roles, including both negative and positive roles, winning gold and silver medals at many national professional theater festivals.

Meritorious Artist Nguyen Manh Ha shared: I always remember the teachings of previous artists that in order to have an excellent role, you must be dedicated, cultivate, pay attention to that role, spend a lot of time practicing, ponder and think about the best way to perform and humbly listen and accept the suggestions and comments of colleagues and audiences to be able to achieve results. With the efforts of myself and the current generation of young artists of the theater, we hope that through mass media and personal information pages of artists, we can spread many art programs of the theater. From there, encourage everyone, especially the young generation to love and learn more about traditional art.

Meritorious Artist Nguyen Manh Ha in the role of Lac Tuong in the play Thien Duyen Huyen Tich.

Meritorious Artist Nguyen Quang Lai, Deputy Director in charge of Thai Binh Cheo Theater, informed: In the 10th awarding of the title of People's Artist and Meritorious Artist in 2024, there are 5 artists: People's Artist Tran Anh Dien, Meritorious Artist Nguyen Manh Ha, Meritorious Artist Tran Xuan Du, Meritorious Artist Bui Thien, Meritorious Artist Nguyen Trong Vuong, who are currently working at the theater. These are excellent and talented artists, always dedicated to their profession, upholding a sense of responsibility and helping colleagues very well. In the period when the Cheo Theater is focusing on training and developing the unit's career, the People's Artists and Meritorious Artists are the driving forces for the work of preserving and promoting traditional arts to become increasingly sustainable.

Tu Anh

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