Summer children's drama, thought to be a success but too many people turned into difficulties

The play Colora - A Land of Brilliance by Ban Mai Children's Theatre - Photo: LINH DOAN

It's been a long time since the city's theater scene has had such a summer season with 7 or 8 circus and children's plays premiering simultaneously to entertain young audiences.

There are more children's plays, and their quality is improving.

Years ago, every summer it was easy to read articles lamenting the bleak state of children's theater, with only Idecaf Theater standing alone with "Once Upon a Time."

Surprisingly, this summer, the children's theater scene is bustling with activity. Not only are there stage plays, but also traditional Vietnamese opera, circus performances, and water puppetry…

Maintaining its "brand" is the Idecaf Theatre with Once Upon a Time 35, the play The Adventures of Captain Sinbad: The Legend of the Magic Eye, performed at the Ben Thanh Theatre.

A formidable "rival" that debuted just last year is Truong Hung Minh Theatre with Fairy Tales 2, the play The Adventures of Me Coc .

The fledgling Ban Mai children's theater group is launching its second play this summer, titled " Colora - The Land of Brilliance ."

After a long period of focusing on children's plays, the 5B Theatre is now launching its next production, "Animal Rescue Station ." The Quoc Thao Theatre presents "The Colorful Island and the Survival Challenge."

Young audience members excitedly went on stage to watch the magic show in the play "Animal Rescue Station" at the 5B Theater - Photo: LINH DOAN

The Hong Hac Theatre is reviving " My Little Angel" with a new team. The Phuong Nam Art Theatre is presenting the circus show "Au O" and the water puppet show "Hoa Dat Viet" .

Furthermore, this year, director Le Nguyen Dat's Sen Viet Stage is also joining the race with the Southern Vietnamese folk musical "The Flag Embroidered with Six Golden Characters ".

Although the number of children's books has increased dramatically, it is fortunate that more than half of them are well invested and of recognized quality.

The theaters seem to have been "trained" and have gradually improved, mastering the staging and performance of children's plays.

Many meaningful little lessons are incorporated. The plot is handled logically to balance the play's rhythm. Costumes, scenery, techniques, and special effects are invested in to create a dazzling, eye-catching, and engaging children's play.

The best news is that the amount of silly, nonsensical comedy has decreased significantly. Theaters are also paying attention to keeping the program length just right, limiting actors' frivolous jokes that make the play drag on.

Too many shows, the audience is scattered.

Last year, people were "shocked" that Idecaf and Truong Hung Minh were able to perform from summer until September and achieve over 60 shows, but this summer that record is unlikely to be repeated.

Many producers were shocked and even devastated when audience numbers plummeted.

Mr. Tram Thanh Thao, the ticket sales manager at the Idecaf Theatre, said that by the end of June, "Once Upon a Time" had been performed 34 times.

According to the plan, there will be 8 performances in July. After that, the theater will have to assess the situation before deciding on the performances for August. And it's likely the play will conclude in August rather than extending into September.

Mr. Thao said: "The audience numbers this year are lower than last year, especially the Sunday evening show which is very weak, with only about 400-500 tickets sold."

Actress Viet Huong said that the number of viewers for "Me Coc Adventure" has decreased compared to last year. Currently, the play has had 20 performances, and she is busy with film projects in July and August, making it difficult to schedule more performances. Therefore, the play will likely not achieve the success of 60 performances like "Fairy Tale" last year.

Director Bao Chu of Ban Mai Theatre said that the theatre's new play currently only has 50% of its seats occupied per performance.

Pregnant actress My Uyen is also worried about the declining audience numbers. She thinks that, in reality, the theater audience is limited, so it's inevitable that when more children's plays are released, the audience will be dispersed.

Furthermore, many producers believe that the economy has not yet fully recovered, so audiences are being very cautious when buying tickets.

The proliferation of children's plays has led to a situation where actors are scattered, making it very difficult to create children's plays nowadays.

Given the tense situation this year, industry professionals predict that next year many producers will have to carefully consider and weigh their options when staging children's plays.

However, some people are persistent and argue that instead of relying on old audiences, we should boldly and persistently build and seek out new audiences for children's theater.

The play "The Adventures of Captain Sinbad: The Legend of the Magical Eye" by Idecaf Theatre - Photo: LINH DOAN

A representative from Idecaf stated that only two years after the pandemic did the "Once Upon a Time" show achieve such high sales figures, with 55 and 62 performances. Under normal circumstances, including the Mid-Autumn Festival, the show typically only has around 30-32 performances. Reaching around 42 performances would be considered a success.

"Out of 35 ' Once Upon a Time' programs, only about 10-12 have actually won, so with this situation, we are worried but not insecure. Next year, we will still invest heavily to maintain the quality that our young audience loves," said a representative of the theater.

Actress My Uyen said that so far none of her children's plays have recouped their investment. "It's a dilemma: if we want to abandon them, we feel bad, but if we keep them, it's a burden. But we're trying our best to build a familiar performance venue and create a habit for audiences to come and watch children's plays weekly," My Uyen confided.

Viet Huong's play cost billions of dong to produce, but she said she was lucky to have business activities that allowed her to receive sponsorship. With 20 performances, the play can recoup its investment, and if it continues to be performed, it will become profitable, so she still has the motivation to maintain children's theater.

Director Bao Chu said that when creating children's theater, the team had already anticipated incurring losses for a period of time. Therefore, they remained calm and still planned to produce four plays a year.

In addition, theaters actively collaborate with schools to perform under contract and conduct workshops. The revenue isn't huge, but it's enough for the theaters to survive and extend their performances.

Making children's plays has never seemed to be an easy task…

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/kich-thieu-nhi-he-tuong-thang-nhung-dong-qua-hoa-kho-khan-2024062115523892.htm