Experimental theater makes a promising comeback

The play "Love Outside of Marriage" (author Le Thu Hanh; directors Meritorious Artist My Uyen, Quoc Thinh) is currently continuously lit up at Stage 5B, promising a strong return of this genre of drama.

Enhance creativity

According to insiders, in order to help the stage reach a large number of young audiences, experimenting with new staging forms is a popular trend. Director Tran Van Hung also shares this view, saying that "it is time for stages to find new staging forms, individual artists must try to experiment to renew and increase the appeal of the play".

Kịch thể nghiệm trở lại đầy hứa hẹn - Ảnh 1.

A scene from the play “Extramarital Love” by the Ho Chi Minh City Small Stage Drama Theater

As mentioned, Stage 5B once created a box office fever with the "experimental theater" genre. With the advantage of performing in a small space, the artists used dialogue without a microphone, forcing them to live with the characters in a realistic way. From there, the creativity in experimental works in terms of staging form was enhanced.

After the 2023 stage script writing camp in Da Lat, director Tran Van Hung said that the 16 scripts participating in the writing camp need to have an outlet and Stage 5B (currently called the Ho Chi Minh City Small Stage Drama Theater) will be the place to bring experimental plays to the public. "According to this model, experimental plays will be performed on Thursdays and Fridays of the week. In the immediate future, director Minh Nguyet will invest in and stage the play "Proud Heart", a new experiment of hers in writing and staging" - director Tran Van Hung informed.

Theater critic Cao Ngoc hopes for the return of experimental theater. Because experimentation is a way for artists to seek authenticity and liveliness in acting, putting themselves in the character's shoes, so the actor will live with the character instead of acting.

According to experts, the return of the experimental theater genre of Stage 5B will create conditions for other socialized theaters to continue to seek new things in staging forms. It can be cite that although only a few scenes have experimented with new things, plays such as: "The Devil's Hour" (Hong Hac Stage); "Mask", "The Puppet Demon" (Quoc Thao Drama Stage); "The Secret of the Hundred-Joint Bamboo Tree", "The Mother of the Street Singer" (Truong Hung Minh Stage); "Colors" (IDECAF Stage)... have created freshness in the plays and have been highly appreciated by the audience.

Need change in perception

People's Artist Tran Minh Ngoc analyzed that the Ho Chi Minh City stage wants to innovate through experimental plays, it needs to create something new in the common perception of professionals, just creating something new in the artist's performance is not enough. Creating something new in the play must be a synthesis of many types.

Authors participating in the Ho Chi Minh City Creative Association also believe that in order to experiment successfully, improvements must be made right from the script stage. Author Thanh Binh commented: "When you put yourself in the position of experimenting with something new, the play's approach to the audience is shaped by serious innovation, which will surely convince the audience." Indeed, with this point of view, the play "Old Traces", written by author Thanh Binh, has won over the audience, and has so far performed more than 150 shows at Stage 5B and toured in many provinces and cities.

Young director Dinh Manh Phuc, who staged the play "The Devil's Hour", added: "Experimental theater will enrich the language of Ho Chi Minh City's theater arts, which is an essential condition to contribute to meeting the expectations of the audience in the trend of integration and development."

The Ho Chi Minh City Theater Association said it is planning to restore the activities of the Theater Directors Club - Ho Chi Minh City Theater Association, aiming to gather young directors who are working in the profession to compose experimental plays for the public.

Source