Huu Chau 'entices' students to become passionate about Vietnamese history.

Huu Chau giving a speech before his students' graduation exam - Photo: LINHDOAN

Acting in historical plays, especially Vietnamese history, is extremely difficult even for professional actors. What made Huu Chau "force" his students, who had only been trained for a few years, to take on this challenging task?

Encourage students to read history books.

In these training classes, upon graduation, students simply need to find a pre-written script, practice, and perform on stage.

As for the 20 students in the Hong Van Stage's advanced intensive class 1, in the monologue competition format, teacher Huu Chau had the students find their own materials, choose their favorite Vietnamese historical figures, then write their own scripts, practice their characters, and present their work to the teacher.

The teacher only allows assignments that he approves for the exam; if he doesn't like them, he tells them to discard them and do something else.

So the young contestants had to painstakingly develop their characters. The 20 performances in the competition night titled "Listen to me tell the story of my country's history" brought to the audience the feelings and thoughts of many historical figures such as Tran Thu Do, Phan Thanh Gian, Bui Thi Xuan, Tran Ich Tac, Tran Canh, Dang Thi Hue, Nguyen Anh, Nguyen Thi Anh, Princess An Tu, Nguyen Trai...

Each student has about 10 minutes to portray a character, but sometimes it takes a whole month of preparation. And the one who suffers the most is always the person who "invented" this arduous examination system.

After days of grueling practice sessions with his students, working on 20 exam pieces, Huu Chau felt like his voice was about to break! Yet, he didn't complain, only wore a genuinely happy smile.

Performing Vietnamese historical plays is incredibly difficult. Whether they can portray the characters well is something they'll experience gradually, but for now, I'm happy that I've encouraged the children to read books about Vietnamese history and begin to love it. For ordinary people, loving Vietnamese history is good, but for future artists, knowing how to love and understand Vietnamese history and conveying that love to the audience is even more meaningful.

Huu Chau

Student Ha Minh Man receives praise for his portrayal of Do Anh Vu - Photo: LINHDOAN

Does anyone still remember me?

Among the veteran theater artists of Ho Chi Minh City who are still active today, Huu Chau is highly regarded for his portrayals of many historical figures such as Nguyen Trai, Ly Dao Thanh, Vo Cong, etc. Each of his characters demonstrates creativity and bears his own unique mark.

Huu Chau expressed his passion for reading Vietnamese history books. When pursuing a singing career, he reflected that he hadn't yet done anything for the country, so he decided to use his acting abilities to find interesting historical figures to portray, reminding future generations of the people who made history for the nation.

Coming from a family with a long tradition in the Thanh Minh - Thanh Nga theatrical arts, Huu Chau selectively adapted techniques from Cai Luong (Vietnamese traditional opera) to adapt them into spoken drama.

And now, not only does he want to "entice" students to become fascinated with Vietnamese history, but he also wants to pass on the mannerisms, dialogue styles, and character portrayals that he has painstakingly researched throughout his decades-long career to the younger generation.

Actress Hong Van thanked Huu Chau for wholeheartedly instilling a love of Vietnamese history in young people - Photo: L.DOAN

Actress Hong Van said emotionally, "I was choked up while watching when the character Princess An Tu exclaimed: 'It's been over 700 years, does anyone still remember me?'"

"Vietnamese history has many wonderful figures. Vietnamese people must know Vietnamese history. Don't let them be forgotten. And today, Mr. Chau has taught the future actors the responsibility to preserve and spread the love of Vietnamese history to the audience."

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/huu-chau-du-hoc-tro-me-su-viet-20240502092650357.htm