Meritorious Artist Van Hai:

In the two plays “The 72nd Petition” and “Order from the Heart”, he had the honor of playing the role of Uncle Ho. His roles were authentic, close, natural, always trying to portray the image of the “Father of the Nation” in the most convincing way.

- Meritorious Artist Van Hai, looking back at your past roles, which do you think is your most impressive role? Were those the times you played Uncle Ho?

- As an actor, the role that I have not played is the best, because I am never satisfied with my roles. After a while, when I can replay a role that I have played, I will have more experience, add details, find suitable words to handle the role more and more accurately. Each role has its own characteristics. At Le Ngoc stage, I have played a total of 16 roles, all of which are "heavyweight" roles, expressing the thoughts and themes of the stage work, but I never thought that I would play the role of Uncle Ho. However, in my heart, I always respect and love him.

Since I was a child, I have known and heard Uncle Ho speak, leaving in me sacred feelings for him. When I heard the news of his passing, I stood under the loudspeaker at Hoan Kiem Lake and cried. Those memories remained in my memory, since then I have always remembered the example and emotions of President Ho Chi Minh as the spiritual foundation of my life. During my time working at the Vietnam Drama Theater, I also learned from my senior colleagues such as artists Manh Linh, Ha Van Trong, Duc Trung, who played the role of Uncle Ho. They were very successful in not only capturing the emotions of the audience but also making their colleagues truly appreciate them.

- When playing the role of Uncle Ho in the plays "The 72nd Petition" and "Order from the Heart", what approach did Meritorious Artist Van Hai choose to take with the image of President Ho Chi Minh?

- I think that everyone has a different idea and way of expressing the image of Uncle Ho. In the plays “The 72nd Petition” and “Order from the Heart”, the character of Uncle Ho is involved in the main drama. That is an advantage for the actors, and also the reason why after reading the script, I decided to participate.

Building the image of President Ho Chi Minh is different for each person. Some people look for form, gestures, and movements, but I am not inclined towards that. In terms of form, I do not try to be exactly like Uncle Ho. I try to focus on spirit, style, gestures... to be as close as possible. Uncle Ho "went undercover" to the people, to see how his cadres had handled the petitioners with 71 petitions, but why did he only receive the 72nd petition? He went to the place, saw the family situation, witnessed it with his own eyes, saw and heard it, carefully studied the content of the petition... then exonerated the innocent.

His greatness comes from the small details and stories, not just the big things that everyone knows. In the script, as long as the details are true to Uncle Ho, we have to act them out. The role of Uncle Ho does not have many scenes on stage and the difficulty for the actor is how to express it, handle the dialogue, full of emotion and intention, each sentence must be very meticulous, revealing his nobility.

- I heard that Meritorious Artist Van Hai also does his own makeup every time he plays Uncle Ho?

- At first, I also researched and hired makeup artists, but I found that they were not perfect. Therefore, I did my own makeup because I knew my mouth shape, the light and dark areas on my face. I also determined that I did not need to look exactly like Uncle Ho. It was important that I acted out his spirit. Furthermore, my principle was to never watch others play Uncle Ho to avoid being stereotyped. I only asked for opinions and consulted the audience to perfect my role.

- After the success of the two plays "The 72nd Petition" and "Order from the Heart", if given another opportunity to play the role of President Ho Chi Minh, Meritorious Artist Van Hai would like to portray what aspects of him?

- My wish is to portray the role of the leader more fully, longer and more deeply, to go more into his real life. I invited some people who used to serve Uncle Ho to watch the play, to get their opinions, and from there, I can adjust the role accordingly. Some audience members who are from Nghe An commented: "You speak with a heavier Nghe An accent". But I think that Uncle Ho has traveled all over the world, his voice has also changed, that is what I concluded after listening to and watching documents about him. Therefore, when playing Uncle Ho, I did not speak much Nghe An accent .

The play “The 72nd Petition” has been performed for 300 nights, from April 2022 until now, we have performed continuously. There are months when we perform more than ten shows. There are many aspirations! A leader respected by the whole nation and the whole world like President Ho Chi Minh will always be a creative inspiration for authors and artists. Currently, the stage is in need of more good scripts about President Ho Chi Minh and other leaders. That is always the key issue!

- Sincerely thank Meritorious Artist Van Hai!

Source: https://hanoimoi.vn/nsut-van-hai-sang-tao-cho-ra-tinh-than-cua-bac-moi-la-quan-trong-702638.html