People's Artist Le Thuy is one of the famous voices of Vietnamese Cai Luong stage. Mentioning her, audiences remember an artist with a sweet voice, simple acting style and admirable professional endurance. However, behind the stage aura are years of many ups and downs.
People's Artist Le Thuy recounted that at one point she and artist Minh Phung once planned to establish their own troupe. At that time, many artists still had strength, still had audiences, and still had the desire to perform. However, at that time, applying for a license was not easy because individuals standing out to organize and establish troupes did not have their own mechanisms.
In parallel with that, People's Artist Le Thuy recounted many memories of working in the profession, especially when performing "underground" and being reminded by cultural officials.
Because she was an artist of the state art troupe, she was advised not to continue singing like that, if she reported to superiors, she would be self-criticized. People's Artist Le Thuy at that time only knew to ask for sympathy because of her family circumstances, young children, and life still lacking many things.
Not only did she have difficult days, but that period also left many happy memories. People's Artist Le Thuy mentioned singing "quan" - that is, acting improvised when not knowing the opera or having to assemble roles in a hurrying situation. Once, she was assigned to a performance class where two male characters competed to give up their lovers. When she saw two co-stars singing back and forth, she stepped onto the microphone and improvised a humorous sentence that if the two of them kept arguing, how could she be "immortal". The sentence made the whole troupe laugh, to the point of not being able to continue performing as planned.
Those stories show that the life of Cai Luong stage at one time was both hard and full of artistry. In deprived circumstances, artists still clung to the profession, still found ways to create, improvise and bring singing to the audience.
People's Artist Le Thuy also acknowledged that in the period from 1975 to 1978, besides the hardships, her career still had a memorable turning point. Before that, she was familiar with swordplays, and was taught each posture and acting style by senior colleagues in the troupe. Later, when the troupes had playwrights, directors and social scripts, she stepped into a new performance space with many roles closer to life.
She has participated in many social plays such as "Sầu riêng trổ bông", "Lỡ bước sang ngang", "Ánh lửa rừng khuya"... These roles help Le Thuy enrich her acting skills, not only as a singer but also as an emotional storyteller.
When the record market was almost frozen, People's Artist Le Thuy switched to recording for radio stations. She mentioned many songs that had been recorded during that period such as "Tà áo tím", "Dòng sông quê em", "Một góc quê em"... For her, it was the arrangement of the profession: when a door closes, another opportunity opens up for the voice to continue to be heard far away.
