Surprising bonuses at Tuong Viet Theater when merging from July 1

From July 1, the Cai Luong Vietnam Theater, the Vietnam Cheo Theater, and the Tuong Vietnam Theater will officially merge into a new unit called the National Traditional Theater of Vietnam.

Speaking to Lao Dong reporter, Mr. Hoang Van Long - currently the Acting Director of the Vietnam Stream Theater said: "Personally, I really look forward to this merger, this is not only a big turning point in restructuring the way of operation, focusing on traditional culture, this will be a great opportunity for all 3 areas of our business to be arranged, streamlined, and at the same time, united for development. We are promoting the cultural industry, always emphasizing the need to preserve national cultural identity, and take national culture as the focus to elevate, reach out and develop. Traditional stages such as Tuong, Cheo, Cai Luong... are the unique cultural features of the Vietnamese people, which need to be preserved and have a development strategy".

According to Mr. Hoang Van Long, the leaders of Tuong Viet Nam Theater were the ones who participated in the project to merge the three theaters, build and develop them into the Vietnam National Traditional Theater, approved by the leaders of the two Vietnam Cheo Theater and Cai Luong Viet Nam Theater and submitted to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

"We have had working sessions between the leaders of the theaters and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to have the best solutions for the merger of units, including 3 Tuong - Cheo - Cai Luong Theaters. Accordingly, in the next 3 years, our theaters have not changed much, the 3 units will still receive plays ordered from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, still find sources of revenue and revenue - at the same time, in parallel, build common plans and operate together for the 3 theaters. We also need time to improve and streamline the apparatus when merging, and I think 3 years is a reasonable time" - Mr. Hoang Van Long said.

Currently, Tuong Viet Theater has about 80 staff, of which 50 are actors and musicians.

For a long time, the stage encountered many difficulties, little light, and difficulty attracting audiences to the theater, including 3 types of traditional stages: Tuong, Cheo, Cai Luong.

Mr. Hoang Van Long admitted that when he was an actor at the Vietnam Canal Theater, he had to do all kinds of jobs to support his family, from running a loudspeaker to stepping on a stepper to process clothes for export...

At that time, the theater was too difficult and had low income. My wife and I (NSND Minh Gai) both work in the theater, raising 2 children to study, I have to work enough extra jobs to overcome that period" - Mr. Long said.

However, in recent years, Tuong Vietnam Theater has had improvements in performances, sold more tickets, and received more shows to earn more revenue.

Mr. Hoang Van Long said that he and the artists in Tuong Viet Nam Theater received additional projects such as filming and performing programs for festivals. For example, artists from the Vietnam Tuong Theater for 19 years have been invited to set up a program and perform at the Go Dong Da Festival on the 5th day of the first lunar month every year. The commemorative program for the victory of Ngoc Hoi - Dong Da and the contributions of King Quang Trung - Nguyen Hue and the Tay Son army.

Projects performed at festivals bring in a significant source of income, helping artists at Tuong Viet Nam Theater to increasingly earn better income.

Each year, the theater receives more than 2 billion VND from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to create plays and perform for free at schools.

With this investment, combined with projects signed with the Organizing Committee of many festivals in many provinces and cities, artists of Tuong Viet Nam Theater have received bonuses, and the salary for each performance is also higher.

Previously, the allowance for each performance of our theater artists was usually only 80,000 VND for supporting roles, 200,000 VND for the main roles... Currently, whenever there are projects to perform at festivals, or perform in provinces, combined with better ticket sales, the allowance increases to 300,000 - 500,000 VND for the main roles. Salary of artists with salary levels according to state regulations. However, there will be additional fees from comic books, show fees, money to work on projects signed outside...

The money I get from extra work, like at festivals, I often add it, and then divide the bonus into the allowance after each show. Recently, the theater artist has also received a bonus for the first 6 months of the year... I can confirm that the life of the artist at Tuong Viet Nam Theater has improved a lot compared to before" - Mr. Long said.

Tuong Viet Theater is currently selling tickets on many platforms and social networking channels. It is known that the theater has had people in charge of developing communication on different platforms, from Facebook to YouTube...

Thanks to that, Tuong has reached a young audience. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Tuong stage held at Hong Ha Theater mainly served... Western guests and tourists.

However, after the COVID-19 pandemic, when developing communication channels on social networking platforms, reaching audiences in many different ways, Mr. Long affirmed that Tuong had sold tickets to young audiences.

Currently, every week, Tuong Viet Nam Theater still has 1-2 shows (usually full seats) at Hong Ha Theater. The theater is producing a new play set in 1947 in Hanoi.

In the atmosphere of improvement with the traditional stage, Mr. Hoang Van Long believes that the merger of the 3 theaters will be a promising turning point for the 3 theaters to cooperate, support and unite for development.