In episode 37 of The Khang Show, Nguyen Khang had the opportunity to invite two veteran artists Thanh Hoi and Ai Nhu to meet the audience. They openly shared the difficulties in their early days of pursuing acting, the joys and sorrows of steering the stage ship in the context of many other forms of entertainment gradually dominating the market.
At the beginning of the program, host Nguyen Khang suggested the story with the image of a dragonfly - the symbol of Hoang Thai Thanh stage. Artist Thanh Hoi said that at first, he and Ai Nhu used the pen name Hoang Thai Thanh when writing the script. After that, they used it as the name of the stage and have maintained it until now.
Artists Thanh Hoi and Ai Nhu at the program.
In the early days, the stage was located at Le Quy Don for three years until it was forced to move to another location. Artist Thanh Hoi said that he and Ai Nhu went to all the big and small stages in Ho Chi Minh City to find a new location. They went through many difficulties, at times it seemed like there was no hope, then suddenly they received a call from the management board of the Children's House in District 10.
“We had never known or contacted them before. When they invited me back, the building was still under construction. They even asked consultants to design the stage to our liking,” artist Thanh Hoi said. According to the artist, the two stages that Hoang Thai Thanh had set up shop at were both deeply meaningful to him. But the District 10 Children’s House has surrounded him and his colleagues for the past nine years, so his feelings are very strong.
When moving to a new location, the duo Thanh Hoi - Ai Nhu faced difficulties in having to "start over". The audience seemed to be attached to the old facility, no one knew about the stage at the Children's House in District 10. It took a while for the artist duo to both persistently stage plays and connect with outside activities, forming habits for the old audience and attracting new audiences to the stage.
In the context of the volatile entertainment market, Thanh Hoi expressed that sometimes he feels discouraged. He understands that drama is behind many other art forms and that doing drama does not bring in a lot of profit. However, artists believe that each person only has one life and doing anything to help themselves and others is worthwhile.
Not only famous for plays that criticize and depict social reality, Hoang Thai Thanh stage is also known as the cradle of healing works. “There was an audience member who said he wanted to commit suicide twice, but after watching Hoang Thai Thanh’s play, his soul came back to life. That shows that in the past 12 years, I have done something that is not meaningless,” the artist expressed.
2 artists share about their journey in theater.
Thanh Hoi said that after 40 years on stage, he has accumulated a huge amount of experience and wants to pass it on so that his juniors no longer fumble around when pursuing art like his husband's generation did.
“Because of that thought, I decided to teach, but teaching is very difficult. The experiences I have gained through blood and tears, I cannot bring to those who come to me superficially,” Thanh Hoi said.
After 13 years of building Hoang Thai Thanh, artists Thanh Hoi and Ai Nhu are still struggling to find someone to continue their dream of maintaining the stage. According to Ai Nhu, for a long time, Hoang Thai Thanh has not been profitable, so she and her colleagues have had to pay out of their own pocket. She finds it difficult to find someone who is passionate enough to accept a business where profits are only measured by the audience's affection.
However, Thanh Hoi and Ai Nhu do not consider it a pressure. They decided to go to the end of the journey and stop when they are no longer strong enough. "For us, every day Hoang Thai Thanh still performs is a happy day" , Thanh Hoi affirmed.
An Nguyen
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