Reporter of Lao Dong Newspaper had a conversation with People's Artist Le Tien Tho in front of the milestone of the 3 theaters Tuong, Cheo, Cai Luong merged.
Tuong Viet Theater, Vietnam Cheo Theater and Cai Luong Viet Nam Theater have merged into the National Traditional Theater of Vietnam. Having held the position of cultural manager, what are your thoughts about new luck among traditional stage types?
- What I and other artists are most looking forward to is the 3 traditional art forms: Cheo, Tuong, Cai Luong will have the opportunity to develop. It must be noted that, while developing, it is necessary to still preserve the soul and identity of each type. In the future, the answer will lie in the solutions and projects that the management level builds.
Traditional arts such as Cheo, Tuong, Cai Luong have been associated with the Vietnamese people throughout history and culture, bringing the soul and quintessence of Vietnamese culture.
Cultural identity is the core of building Vietnamese people, and is also the pride of Vietnamese people. Those spiritual foundations lasted and influenced Vietnamese people throughout the development process, from rice culture to cultural industry.
In recent years, we have issued many resolutions and policies to promote the development of traditional stage culture and art. However, for the policy to come into life, there are still many issues to be considered.
In my opinion, traditional arts with strong national cultural identity need to be urgently protected.
We are building a strategy for cultural industrialization, focusing on preserving beauty, preserving national cultural identity, in the hope of bringing cultural identity to the world. In your opinion, is this expectation practical for traditional stages - which are quite picky about audiences?
- The cultural industry strategy has set for some types of art to be spearhead industries such as cinema, music... Traditional stage - located in the performing arts sector. I think it will be difficult and take a lot of time and effort for traditional theater to develop into an industry.
Traditional stages have had a difficult time, are picky about audiences, and have few lights.
An artistic unit that wants to develop must have good and creative performances to meet the expectations of the audience. To do so, the State and artistic units must invest in promotion, avoid having good works but not promoting or not having funds to promote.
There are hundreds of products on the market, while other products have both favorable space and timing, but the stage is facing many difficulties. Many audiences did not even know the existence of these stages. Therefore, to preserve culture, we must nurture, nurture, and elevate the level, so that the audience will be the ones who spread the beauty of traditional theater and the beauty of national culture to the world.
I think that, taking this opportunity, when merging the 3 theaters, we must redefine all factors affecting the traditional stage, from the management mechanism, investment to artists. I hope that the merger of the three theaters will create a revolution, to preserve traditional culture, so that artists can live with peace of mind in their profession.
Almost all the positions that People's Artist Le Tien Tho has held are associated with the main stage, it can be seen that he devoted a lot of passion to this sport. However, for a long time, the canal has not been able to have a worthy position and has not been properly recognized for its value despite having a history of hundreds of years. Sometimes, some people still mistaken for the equivalent of a Chinese horror...
- It is true that many people confuse it with Chinese horror. I often say that they are less interested in Tuong so they may not know. Vietnamese theater has a history dating back to the 11th century, while Chinese horror plays are only over 200 years old. So Tuong cannot be a "copy" of a horror. Because the audience is not allowed to learn about that information. Everyone can know the history of Vietnamese literature and art, how the poetic periods developed, when the new poems were created, what works are there in criticism literature... but no one can study, read about the traditional sources and stages like that.
I think that in order for traditional culture to be preserved, in order for traditional theater to be deeply embedded in life, it is necessary to include it in education.
Over the years, traditional performing arts have struggled to reach audiences, in the context of increasingly diverse and rich entertainment media. This will be a very difficult problem for the times, do you think so?
- Not only Tuong but many traditional performing arts have encountered difficulties, it can be said that they have been forgotten by the audience.
We need a bridge to introduce those sports to the audience, we cannot release them for artists to "swim" themselves. More importantly, the State needs to nurture and nurture those values, by promoting and communicating domestically and internationally. Looking to other countries such as Japan and China, they have trained and brought traditional subjects to the national drama stage.
We do not have a clear and specific investment strategy for traditional theater. Many artists have to make a living in many different ways to stick with the profession.
I believe that if there is a system of training, systematic development, and education for the younger generation early, the audience will not turn their backs and forget traditional arts. Most of the younger generation does not distinguish between the characteristics of art, because they are not educated about those things. When not taught from a young age, they do not pay attention, and therefore do not care.
Don't let young audiences only listen to KPop, watch Korean movies, find ways to bring the beauty of traditional culture, traditional theater to young audiences, on all different platforms.
We artists have many talents, they need support to pursue their career. For a performance, a young musician can earn tens to hundreds of millions of VND, while a traditional stage artist can only earn 200,000 VND. That difference creates a differentiation between rich and poor even in the artist world.
People's Artist Le Tien Tho has reached retirement age after many years of working, but he is still attached to the stage, often producing plays, participating in directing, and still struggling with the flow. So, what made his lover so affectionate?
- Tuong is a scientific art, because the old generation has summarized Tuong to become a model, with its own standards, such as facial painting, movements, and performance. Poetry and lyrical language themselves make the flow dramatic. The plays bring the audience sublime and majestic emotions through their performance and image of heroic characters. The beauty of Tuong is not inferior to famous art forms in the world.
Tuong stage has the strength to recreate tragic historical scenes, praising love for the country and the nation.
A performance lasted for several hours, the artist dressed up and wore a shirt with only one hand, sweating profusely but was only paid a few hundred thousand dong. I still remember a friend who acted with me, after finishing the performance, he fainted in the hallway because he was exhausted.
The flow originated from the royal stage. The actor must be passionate, must achieve 6 elements of sound - color - actorship - spirit - spirit, singing, dancing and applying martial arts.
I think I stick with Tuong because of my pride in my profession and traditional culture. At the age of over 70, I still go to the stage regularly, shouting loudly to teach my students to sing and perform. When Tuong is forgotten and judged to be untrue, I feel responsible. I write many new plays, because art to survive must have works, must make the audience feel the work. The separation in performing arts, it is difficult for any sport to do like Tuong.
Every day, I still try to inspire the younger generation, so that they continue to explore, nurture, and preserve the beauty of the canal - as a way to preserve the beauty of traditional culture.
