A red plastic table. A few blue, white, and red chairs. A canvas stretched in the middle of the stage, plastic cans scattered about, a few clothes hanging on a wire. A small old TV giving off a dim light.
That space makes one feel as if one is standing in the middle of a simple boarding house in Vietnam, where life is shabby but full of human touch. However, that is the setting of a Belgian-Vietnamese play performed in the heart of Brussels, at the Théâtre de la vie (Stage of Life).
According to a VNA reporter in Brussels, the play, titled “Tombe la neige sur Saïgon” – “Snowfall in Saigon,” is a contemporary work combining drama, dance and music , created by the Ravie ASBL art group (Belgium) with the support of the Wallonie-Brussels Delegation in Vietnam and many international partners.
The show was performed from November 4-15 in Brussels, offering the audience a unique theatrical experience where memories, identity and nostalgia are interwoven in the same stream of emotions.
“Snow Falling in Saigon” is built in autobiographical form, inspired by the family story of artist Quentin Chaveriat - director and main actor of the play.
Artist Quentin Chaveriat traveled to Vietnam to meet young artists. During his first visit in 2017, he shared with them his childhood story – a boy growing up in a “reconstructed” family, where Belgian and Vietnamese cultures coexisted under one roof.
The young artists listened and responded in different ways, but somewhere in their eyes, in their words, he sensed a quiet empathy, a common echo of seemingly unfamiliar experiences.
It was that moment that made him realize that, in the encounter between these two cultures, there existed a precious material, deep and true enough to make a play.
The work blends three languages: French, English and Vietnamese, with French subtitles, performed by Belgian and Vietnamese artists.
On stage, the boundaries between reality and fantasy, past and present, drama, contemporary dance and karaoke seem to melt away. A world of memory and imagination opens up, where every emotion can be expressed.
Explaining the unique combination of drama, contemporary dance and karaoke, director Quentin Chaveriat said that language - the thing that seems to connect people - sometimes becomes a barrier that makes it difficult for them to reach each other.
He witnessed this in his own family, when his sisters from Vietnam came to Belgium and could not speak French or English, leaving them with almost no common language to communicate.
Even after years of living together, he realized that words are sometimes not enough, because language is always tied to culture. And to understand the depth of another person's emotions, it takes more than just a fluency in words.
That is why director Chaveriat turned to the language of the body - of dance - as another way of expression, wordless but profound.
For Chaveriat, karaoke also has a similar meaning: an indirect way to express things that are too difficult to say, a space where people can sing out their most secret emotions: love, nostalgia, the desire to be understood or simply the need to be alone.
In Chaveriat's Belgian-Vietnamese family, seemingly simple phrases like “I love you,” “I miss you,” or “I need my own space” become too difficult to utter.
But in familiar karaoke melodies, those emotions are expressed gently, discreetly and sincerely, as a way for members to truly touch each other.
The character Ngan - the center of the play - is played by Thuy Nguyen, a young Vietnamese artist currently studying performing arts in Canada. For her, this is a precious opportunity to stand on the same stage with Belgian artists, and at the same time, it is a challenging experience.
The difference in working style and performance sometimes makes it difficult for her to grasp the director's intentions, but through that, Thuy Nguyen learns a lot about art and how to understand her own cultural identity more deeply.
For Thai ethnic dancer Nung Van Minh, who performed for the first time on an international stage, the experience was both new and inspiring.
He had never acted before, but thanks to this play, he discovered another world of art, where the body, dialogue and emotions became one. For him, “Snowfall in Saigon” is not only a work, but also a journey of self-discovery and learning how to tell stories in the language of his own heart.
On stage, the actors spoke in many languages: French, English, Vietnamese, creating a polyphonic "chord", both strange and familiar.
Artist Manoël Dupont shared: “This is the first time I have performed with Vietnamese artists, and I feel happy and proud. We did not encounter any difficulties, because each language brings its own sacred emotions to the actors.”
The play was inspired by the famous song “Tombe la neige” (It’s Snowing) by Salvatore Adamo. The image of falling snow in a tropical space becomes a metaphor for distance, for memories and nostalgia between two worlds: the cold North and the warm South.
No need for a lavish studio or elaborate props, just a few plastic chairs, a fan, a mirror, “Snowfall in Saigon” still creates a whole space of memories. It is this simplicity that opens up the imagination, where each audience member can see a part of their own story.
After all, the answer that Quentin Chaveriat seeks perhaps lies not in the differences, but in the space between two people: where the snow of the North gently touches the breath of the South, melting into a gentle light called understanding.
“Tombe la neige sur Saïgon” - “Snowfall in Saigon” - is not just a play, but a bridge of memories, where art dissolves distances and people find themselves in cultural dialogue./.
Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/tuyet-roi-o-sai-gon-khi-hoi-tho-phuong-nam-cham-vao-gia-bang-phuong-bac-post1074558.vnp
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