During the last days of the 2025 National Cheo Festival (from October 20 to November 2), Bac Ninh had cold rain, but the auditorium of the Bac Ninh Provincial Exhibition Center was always "hot" because of the gathering of more than 1,000 artists, actors, and musicians from 12 art units across the country continuously performing (2 shows per day, morning at 9:30 am and evening at 8:00 pm).

The performance of the play “Nguyen Van Cu: Youth with Great Ambition” by artists, actors, and musicians from the Army Cheo Theater took place at 8:00 p.m., but from 4:00 p.m., the audience had been eagerly flocking to the theater to reserve seats; the aisles along the auditorium were filled with seats brought by the audience; many audience members left their coats to “reserve seats” after watching the morning performance of the play “The Firelighters” - one of the two plays submitted by the Army Cheo Theater to participate in this festival.

Image from the Cheo play "Nguyen Van Cu: Youth with Great Ambition" of the Army Cheo Theater.

Mr. Nguyen Van Dien and his wife, over 60 years old, living in Viet Thong commune, did not mind the cold and rainy journey of more than 20km, riding a motorbike from 6am to Bac Ninh Exhibition Center to watch the performance.

“The festival has 21 plays, of which we saw 12, today we saw 2 more plays by Army artists, making it 14. It’s not often that we get to see a military cheo show, so in the morning my wife cooks rice, packs lunch and dinner, and only goes home after watching the evening show. Every troupe performs well, the plays by Army artists depict revolutionary war and soldiers, I really like them,” said Mr. Nguyen Van Dien.

Bringing to the Festival, the artists of the Army Cheo Theater performed 2 plays. In which, "Nguyen Van Cu: Youth with great ambitions" shows a slice of the revolutionary life of comrade Nguyen Van Cu. The play's author: Le The Song. Colonel, People's Artist (NSND) Tu Long, Director of the Army Cheo Theater, director said: "The play is a respectful incense stick that our team of artists respectfully offers to the late General Secretary Nguyen Van Cu, who is also a son of the land of quan ho Bac Ninh".

Scene from "The Firelighters".

The performance of the young actors in the play was also quite smooth, surprising many audiences, because this was a rather "heavy" play, not only in terms of propaganda about the image of the revolutionary soldier, the late General Secretary Nguyen Van Cu, but also "heavy" in terms of art with quan ho and cheo melodies used interwoven and nested within each other.

Besides its artistic value, the play also mentions the sayings of the late General Secretary Nguyen Van Cu related to self-discipline. People's Artist Tu Long said that there are many documents about lessons of self-discipline like in the play, but they must be filtered to reduce dryness. All the quotes in the play about the late General Secretary Nguyen Van Cu were carefully researched by the production team.

The play "The Firelighters" was performed by the artists of Group 1 of the Theater. Notably, among the artists performing the play, there were many young actors. The special point of the play was that the production team gracefully and smoothly integrated quan ho and cheo melodies into the story, creating a soft and gentle feeling.

With the play “The Firelighters”, using artistic language, the creative team reconstructs, depicts, and praises the noble qualities of the late Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet - a staunch communist, an outstanding leader of the Party.

A large audience came to watch and cheer for the performances of the artists from the Army Cheo Theater.

“The Firelighters” by author Trinh Bich Ngan; directed by Dr., Meritorious Artist Bui Nhu Lai; performed by Performance Group 2.

In the play, the crew highlighted the image of the late Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet - a person who "dared to think, dared to speak, dared to do, dared to take responsibility" before the Party, the State, and the people, closely associated with the cause of innovation, construction, and protection of the socialist Vietnamese Fatherland. Through the work, it contributes to continuing to enlighten the belief of generations of cadres, soldiers, and people today and tomorrow in the success of the country's innovation initiated and led by our Party.

The two plays of the Army Cheo Theatre were highly appreciated by experts for their boldness in presenting stories that are deeply relevant to today's current events - something that not many traditional art theater units dare to put on plays for festivals and competitions.

Besides the historical and folk plays - which are associated with Cheo art, performed by other theaters, the two plays of the Army Cheo Theater competing at the Festival once again affirmed the brand of "Cheo for soldiers", as well as the messages, values ​​about culture, identity and the duties of artists - soldiers in the process of building and developing an advanced Vietnamese culture, imbued with national identity.

    Source: https://www.qdnd.vn/van-hoa/doi-song/khan-gia-ngoi-kin-loi-di-xem-nghe-si-quan-doi-dien-cheo-996812