Experimental stage:

Through each festival, Vietnamese theater shows new changes from experimenting and learning from colleagues at home and abroad to expand the range of expression of works, touching the hearts of today's audiences.

The play "Tam Cam" by Thang Long Puppetry Theatre brings Cheo singing elements into puppetry, creating a space of intersection between two traditional forms.

Dare to tell a different story on stage

The 6th International Experimental Theatre Festival 2025 shows a vibrant, diverse and ambitious stage picture. Fortunately, the event is attracting more and more international and domestic art units to participate. There are up to 9 international units from Poland, China (2 units), Korea, Israel, Japan, Mongolia, Uzbekistan, and the Netherlands participating. The organization in 4 localities: Hanoi , Ho Chi Minh City, Hai Phong and Ninh Binh has created conditions for many domestic units to participate in the competition.

Over the past two weeks, the audience has been invited to a theatrical “party” with many unique dishes. Some works left the auditorium to take place in the streets, some used body language instead of words, some plays combined with video art, plays combined with live interaction on social media platforms...

From an international perspective, “Poetic Love” (Poland) made a strong impression when it turned a public space into a stage; the Israeli artist with “Birth Course” or the Dutch artist of Vietnamese origin Phi Nguyen in “With Phi or Without Phi” both exploited interactivity, allowing viewers to participate in the work.

Both Chinese plays are interesting. “Pipa Ji” is played entirely by female actors and “Which Night Is It Tonight” is a meeting of traditional opera and modern staging.

Korean artists perform the familiar play “The Tale of the White Fox and the Nine-Tailed Fox” in a fusion of surreal and contemporary theatrical language.

While Japanese artists skillfully combined European philosophy with the spirit of Eastern theater in the play “ Peace ”…

Vietnamese units also “played big” with many bold ideas. The Vietnam Drama Theater with “The Rubber Sandal Man” experimented with plays that did not follow the conventions of space and time; no props but were rich in poetry and rhythm. The Vietnam National Traditional Theater brought “Medea” into the space of reformed opera combined with puppetry. The Vietnam Circus Federation told “Nghêu Sò Ốc Hến” in circus language…

Hanoi’s art units are also making great efforts. “Dao Lieu” of Hanoi Cheo Theatre is the answer to traditional art in a modern context. “Dem trang dam ha” of Hanoi Drama Theatre focuses on body language instead of dialogue. Thang Long Puppetry Theatre tells “Tam Cam” using Cheo and puppetry.

Meanwhile, LucTeam Stage maintains a conventional, minimalist style in "Tomorrow the sky will be bright again".

Another impression is the play “The old men carrying hunched shoulders” by Ninh Binh Traditional Arts Theatre with a harmony between cheo, cai luong, tuong, puppetry, drama with wordplay and traditional - contemporary music processing.

These bright spots show that experimental theater is daring to tell “truly different” stories, experimenting with language, and borrowing technology to innovate the way of conveying. However, along with success there are still some problems. Some plays easily fall into the trap of “strangeness” because they only aim for surface effects, lose depth, and fail to retain the resonance in the hearts of the audience…

The journey of innovation from the national core

The play "The Man in Rubber Sandals" by Vietnam Drama Theater participated in the festival.

Experimental theatre has always been seen as a journey in search of a new language of expression, but the formality has never been the destination. What is more important is the ability to open up cultural depths, so that the theatre can truly be relevant and touch the hearts of today's audiences. That spirit pervades the 6th International Experimental Theatre Festival 2025, where professional conversations and performances continuously focus on the question: What is experimentation for? And where does it lead the theatre?

President of the Vietnam Stage Artists Association Trinh Thuy Mui affirmed that the festival is an important international exchange space, helping Vietnamese artists to dialogue with the world, learn new methods and promote the unique values of national theater. The ultimate goal is still to create works of ideological value, rich in artistry and truly reaching the public.

According to Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Thi Minh Thai, experimentation does not mean “creating something new”. True creativity only appears when artists find new ways of expressing the problems that have been and are being raised in life. That requires them to return to the core of national culture, because “newness” without foundation will only become a visual effect.

In terms of expertise, researchers have noted strong efforts this year. From script structure, staging thinking, space design to acting methods, many units have tried new approaches, maintaining the characteristics of the genre while still expanding the creative range. Directions such as physical, non-verbal, visual stages or combining multimedia technology show that today's stage not only tells stories, but also creates a sensory experience, putting the audience in a state of "participation" instead of "observation".

Through many experiments in circus art, People's Artist Tong Toan Thang, Director of the Vietnam Circus Federation, believes that contemporary theater that meets the needs of today's audience must be a meeting of entertainment to make viewers amazed, of humanity to create echoes. For example, circus art today can resonate with other languages such as symphony, opera, ballet, tuong, cheo, cai luong..., to become a potential art form contributing to the flow of Vietnamese and world theater.

Through this year’s festival season, it is easy to see that the greatest value lies not only in the works, but also in what Vietnamese artists learn. That is knowing what the world stage is doing, understanding what they lack and, more importantly, having the opportunity to “test” the audience’s reaction. It is this connection that helps Vietnamese stage confidently enter a new stage of development, opening the door to integration.

Source: https://hanoimoi.vn/san-khau-thu-nghiem-tim-cach-bieu-dat-moi-cham-den-trai-tim-khan-gia-725171.html