Supporting young people's theatrical experiments

Brave Beginnings

In a small apartment, four actors sat waiting for the director. In front of them was a completely new script that had not been directed. While waiting, they read through the lines, shared about their personal lives, then rehearsed together and were drawn into the question “Why are we here?” - both as characters and as themselves. That thoughtful question about the value of existence always echoed somewhere in everyone’s mind, which is also the name of the stage work of the New Behind the Scenes project that was just released at the end of April 2025.

The work was written and directed by Duy Vu, inspired by the training journey of the acting class at Thang Long Film Company. There is no clear plot, no climax or drama, the two-hour play is just endless conversations between the actors, but it is still enough to make the audience pause and reflect...

Operating from mid-2024, Tan Behind the Scenes is a non-profit project initiated and led by XplusX Studio - an independent creative space founded by director Ha Nguyen Long. The project is accompanied by the Goethe Institute Hanoi and Manzi Art Space, with the goal of encouraging young theater creative groups to boldly experiment with their first works.

Before “Why are we here?”, Tan Backstage debuted “The Pillowman” - the opening work of the project. The play was directed by promising young face Bui Thac Phong, based on the famous script “The Pillowman” by Irish director and screenwriter Martin McDonagh. With a minimalist but bold style, “The Pillowman” brings the audience to the conflicting dialogues between the inspectors on one side and the arrested on the other, in a space that is both an interrogation room, a prison, and an execution ground, thereby evoking haunting questions about the boundaries between morality and belief, between reality and fiction, between imagination and social responsibility…

If “Why are we here?” is a new play that brings open thoughts, “The Pillow Man” is a challenging and dramatic stage adaptation. Following different approaches, the two works meet in the desire to explore and the spirit of “committing” to explore theatrical innovations. Not only expressing the new perspectives of young people practicing art, the works are also a reflection and response to today’s social issues. These are also the criteria for Tan Backstage to select suitable ideas and support their realization. According to director Ha Nguyen Long, this is the way to “stimulate future creativity, while helping young artists realize their responsibility in the general flow of the times”.

Supporting new artistic practices

Talking about the reason for making Tan Hau Truong, director Ha Nguyen Long said that as an independent theater practitioner, he is always eager to listen to new artistic voices from young colleagues. From his professional practice, the director born in 1990 realized that the current theater practice ecosystem, especially in Hanoi, is still mainly concentrated in public institutions. There are not many opportunities for independent artists to work with public units in creating works, and there is no clear policy foundation, although in reality, the need for connection and coordination between the two sides is very large.

Meanwhile, unlike other highly individualistic arts such as painting, theater is an interdisciplinary subject that requires a variety of production conditions, with different demands on time, human resources, and materials. Therefore, the biggest difficulty for young people when starting to produce a theatrical work is often the feeling of being lost and not knowing who to accompany. “Lack of practice in the early stages of your career can make you discouraged or seek other ways of expression. This is a pity not only for you but also for the art of theater and the audience in general. That is why Tan Hau Truong was initiated,” Ha Nguyen Long shared.

Having been formally trained to become a professional artist, but besides his love of painting, Ha Nguyen Long also has a special passion for the stage. For him, each painting is a stage scene captured in a moment, a stage work is a collection of derivative paintings with the same theme over a period of time. With that mindset, Ha Nguyen Long and XplusX Studio have staged many impressive stage works with creative breakthroughs, such as: "Son Hau-Beyond The Mountain", "Antigone-Am Mu", "Giac Mo Tao Nghia"...

However, unlike previous art projects that aimed to stage separate works and expand the audience's experience, Tan Backstage focuses on developing direct skills for a new generation of stage artists, creating a playground open enough for young artists to confidently raise their first voices in their artistic journey.

There, XplusX Studio provides direct professional and technical support throughout the process of script completion, staging, stage design, connecting with artists, creative communities, etc. Manzi Art Space provides venues, supports logistical requirements, and is in charge of organizing and communicating for performance events. Goethe Institute Hanoi introduces and provides development opportunities, exchange and training programs through a network of partner cultural-educational organizations and international art support funds.

In particular, selected ideas also receive direct support for production costs. In addition, Tan Backstage also organizes a series of satellite workshops with the participation of experts in many fields of stage creation, thereby helping to improve understanding, enrich background knowledge and visual practice knowledge for young artists.

Aiming to create an ecosystem with close, continuous, clear and positive connections between young independent creators and other theater practice communities such as theaters, art universities, cultural research institutes, etc., Tan Backstage hopes to be able to develop in the long term, becoming a place where young artists are always ready to express themselves and eager to create meaningful things for Vietnamese theater and drama.

In the near future, the project will continue to introduce the first two works of female director To Diep and director Hieu Tran in July and September 2025. Tan Backstage plans to organize a performance including excerpts of proposals that were not selected for support this year, to encourage artists to continue their thinking and creative process, thereby opening up possible companions in the coming year.

Source: https://nhandan.vn/tiep-suc-cho-nhung-thu-nghiem-san-khau-cua-nguoi-tre-post882327.html