The spirit of Dien Bien workers will forever shine.

On the stage of the Army Theater (Mai Dich, Hanoi ), it was 11 p.m. but the rehearsal atmosphere of the artists and actors of the Theater was still bustling in the scene where General Vo Nguyen Giap started the rhythm of the folk songs with the group of porters and soldiers. The folk songs of the porters from many rural areas such as Thai Binh, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh... blended with the cheerful and warm voice of General Vo Nguyen Giap's hometown of Quang Binh: "You go to the Dien Bien campaign/ Who goes to sing folk songs/ Green hair I'm waiting/ Who goes to sing folk songs/ Red heart I'm waiting/ Ho lo ho lo listen to the sound of someone going to sing folk songs". "Now Dien Bien is calling, everyone follow me...", the dialogue of artist Doi Anh Quan transforming into the role of General Vo Nguyen Giap blended with the music and the boiling spirit, the determined atmosphere of the porter group entering the campaign...

Image in the scene where General Vo Nguyen Giap and soldiers and laborers raise their determination to win in the play.

“ Dien Bien Calls” is based on the portrait of a female laborer and medic named Nguyen Thi Phong Lan. The first scene of the play opens up the space of Te village (a village occupied and controlled by the French army before 1954), when there were groups of soldiers and laborers heading to Dien Bien passing by, they were helped by the people and especially young people like Vinh, Long and Lan, who guided them to avoid being pursued by the enemy. Escaping Te village, Long followed the revolution, participated in the Dien Bien Phu Campaign with the promise to Lan that they would meet and marry on Dien Bien land after the victory. After taking care of the family affairs of both her family and Long's family, Lan also crossed the forest, over mountains, and across rivers to join the laborers heading to Dien Bien. For nearly two months, Lan, while participating in the transport team, while serving as a medic in military medical stations... along the long road towards Dien Bien calling, Lan met and witnessed people who were contributing their strength and faith day and night to the war to save the country until the day of victory. And Lan, who thought that the longed-for desires would come, but before the moment of total victory, she sacrificed herself while carrying a wounded soldier on her shoulder through the bullets.

Director, People's Artist Le Hung said that 20 years ago, he staged the play "Message from Dien Bien"; in 2014, he staged the play "Mission Accomplished" about the portrait of General Vo Nguyen Giap; the plays all won grand prizes in theater competitions on the theme of revolutionary war. With 2024, the 70th anniversary of the Dien Bien Phu Victory and the 80th anniversary of the founding of the People's Army, when the Army Drama Theater invited orders to stage the work, People's Artist Le Hung was very concerned: “For many months, I and Colonel, Meritorious Artist Le Thi Mai Phuong, Director of the Theater and members of the Theater's Art Council have been searching for scripts. A glorious and great feat of the country like the Dien Bien Phu Victory without a new work or play is both worrying and apologetic. In addition, the requirement is that the script must be evaluated and awarded to achieve value and quality. Luckily, we chose the memoir of Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Tat Thang, who was awarded first prize by the Literature and Arts Newspaper to launch a creative campaign on the theme of revolutionary war. Immediately, Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Tat Thang began to adapt it into the script "Dien Bien Wai Que". In this play, we sketched to honor portraits of the workers, in my personal opinion, 50% of the credit for the victory of Dien Bien Phu belongs to these ordinary people.

Colonel, Meritorious Artist Le Thi Mai Phuong, Director of the Army Drama Theater, said that staging the play “Dien Bien Wai Goi” was a great determination of the collective of artists and actors of the Theater. Despite the tight schedule, the artists and actors have been united in practicing day and night for nearly two months with the goal of being able to launch the play with the best quality production, with high artistic value to perform for the audience on the occasion of the anniversary of the Liberation of the South, National Reunification (April 30) and the 70th anniversary of the Dien Bien Phu Victory (May 7). After its premiere in Hanoi, the Theater plans to bring the play “Dien Bien Wai Goi” to perform for soldiers and people in units and bases.

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