Tu Suong continues the old career with Ho Nguyet Co

Thien Long Theater has just finished reviewing the classical opera "Ho Nguyet Co turns into a fox". Artist Tu Suong plays the main character: Ho Nguyet Co.

Tu Suong depicts the scene where Ho Nguyet Co turns into a fox - Photo: LINH DOAN

Ho Nguyet Co turns into a fox is a classic script used a lot in traditional opera, cheo, and cai luong. With the new version by Thien Long, fans are waiting for Tu Suong to shine.

Tu Suong fell in love with Ho Nguyet Co from the person who left first.

Tu Suong is the fifth generation descendant of the Minh To family of opera - reformed opera with a hundred years of singing career.

Suong confided that when she went to sing Chau, she often met and enjoyed watching traditional opera artists such as My Hang, Ngoc Khanh, Ngoc Dung... perform the character of Ho Nguyet Co. Because of her love for the character, she also felt the character.

When she was at the Bach Long Children's Group, she and her cousin Trinh Trinh often performed this excerpt taught by teacher Bach Long.

But at that time Trinh Trinh played the role of Ho Nguyet Co, while Tu Suong pretended to be a man and played the role of Tiet Giao. "Trinh Trinh has more experience playing the role of Ho Nguyet Co than me. She plays better and better and is very enjoyable to watch, because she pays close attention to every detail" - Tu Suong said.

She said that two years ago, when making the play San Hau, the crew invited artist Ngoc Dung to teach her about choreography. After the rehearsal, Tu Suong asked her to teach her the character Ho Nguyet Co and she wholeheartedly taught her the art.

This time, Ho Nguyet Co turns into a fox, Thien Long Theater thanks to author Hung Nha (director Vo Hoang Phuong) rewriting it with more characters and a different explanation of the character Ho Nguyet Co.

Tu Suong (as Ho Nguyet Co) and Minh Truong (as Vo Tam Tu) in the play - Photo: LINH DOAN

Tu Suong expressed that when she watched this play in the past, she felt that Ho Nguyet Co was romantic, naive, gullible and in love. In the new version, she personally liked it and felt it was easier to act when the author explained the reason why Ho Nguyet Co loved Tiet Giao when she was already married.

It was because of gratitude and he was her first love in her previous life. "Women are often a bit weak and sentimental, especially with their first love. Here, she has a conflict between gratitude and affection, and is not a promiscuous woman as people think" - Tu Suong explained about the character.

The choreographer for the play is artist Thanh Son - Tu Suong's uncle. The scene where Nguyet Co turns into a fox does not take place in the mansion as in the original script but is moved to the forest, which is also a way to "make it more difficult" for Tu Suong.

There were no tables or chairs for Nguyet Co to perform, so Tu Suong suggested designing more vines from the forest for her to lean on to perform her dance moves. Because she "made things difficult for herself", after the re-examination, Tu Suong's hand was injured and she had to go to the doctor because she had signs of a sprained tendon and dislocated joint.

Ho Nguyet Co (Tu Suong) is moved by Tiet Giao (Hung Vuong) - Photo: L.DOAN

The Tragedy of Ho Nguyet Co

It can be said that if the audience is into traditional opera, reformed opera, then they must know the play Ho Nguyet Co Hoa Cao. The play was originally called Co Mieu Van Ca, but later people still called it Ho Nguyet Co Hoa Cao.

Born more than 150 years ago, the audience is still fascinated by it and it is one of the long-lasting Tuong operas. Not only that, the play has also been adapted into other forms such as Cheo, Cai Luong, especially Cai Luong Tuong Co.

Artist Huu Danh told Tuoi Tre that the script Ho Nguyet Co Hoa Cao was written by Mr. Nguyen Dieu (1822 - 1880) - a playwright from Binh Dinh, teacher of the late master of opera Dao Tan. Later, Dao Tan revised the script.

Ho Nguyet Co turns into a fox is the story of Ho Nguyet Co - a fox who has cultivated for thousands of years and transformed into a human. When she came to earth, she met and married Vo Tam Tu (a general under the command of Vo Tac Thien). While helping her husband in battle, Ho Nguyet Co unexpectedly met Tiet Giao - a handsome and talented general - and was moved by his actions so she spared his life.

Thanks to Ly Tinh's revelation, Tiet Giao learned that Ho Nguyet Co's power was a gem within her that she had cultivated for thousands of years to obtain.

Tiet Giao planned to use "manly trickery" to make Nguyet Co fall into a love trap and give the jade to him, losing her hard work in cultivation, returning from human to fox, while her lover calmly waved his hand and left.

Ho Nguyet Co was embarrassed and hurt because her lover took the pearl and abandoned her - Photo: LINH DOAN

Artist Huu Danh of the Ho Chi Minh City Opera Theatre shared: "Ho Nguyet Co turns into a fox is a play that our theatre performs regularly, especially during court singing and temple worship ceremonies."

He said the audience loved the most the part where Ho Nguyet Co gave the jade to Tiet Giao and then lost the jade and had to turn back from human to fox. This was the performance where every time they sang, the audience threw money at the artists all over the stage. Jokingly, it was the "money-making" performance.

The reason is that with this performance, the audience will be able to enjoy the beautiful dance forms of the art of hát bội.

From the way the actors had to act out the conventions so that the audience could see the difficulty when Ho Nguyet Co pushed the jade out of her body. Then the scene where she transformed into a fox had to express the pain, the itchiness until there was no more human voice, only the animal's mumbling.

"When she could no longer speak, Ho Nguyet Co had no choice but to use actions to express her feelings. This was an extremely difficult scene, requiring the actor to be tough, skilled and healthy. It was a solo scene, the actor had to control the stage alone.

The actors had to roll around to express the pain, had to jump on tables and chairs, and in some scenes had to curl up and hug the chair legs, trying to hide their fox tails as if trying to hold on to the fragile hope of being human. Their limbs were convulsed, their mouths pursed to portray the image of a fox.

In general, this is considered a "key" performance that requires the actor to be both good at dancing and deeply expressing the character's psychology. Many artists when performing this performance easily have accidents because they fall, and after the performance, everyone is out of breath because of fatigue" - Mr. Huu Danh analyzed.

In addition to the original version, the character Ho Nguyet Co is also used by authors to write new ones using old stories to talk about the present, such as the script The Fox by author Le Duy Hanh, the experimental script Ho Nguyet Co becomes a human...

Young talent contestants often choose this character to show their talent and assert themselves.

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LINH DOAN

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/tu-suong-noi-nghiep-xua-voi-ho-nguyet-co-20250527093918847.htm