The power of the Tet season
The end of 2025 will mark the simultaneous return of many stages in Ho Chi Minh City. The World Youth stage prepares the play "Million Dollar birthday" for the 2026 Binh Ngo Tet performance season; Truong Hung Minh stage introduces the horror - comedy play "Nghe So No. 44"; 5B Theater launches the psychological drama "Lac" with the theme of medicine and ethics; Hong Van Drama Theater continues to experiment with the model of empowering the young crew with "Where is my great song going?".
The common point of the plays released this time is the fast pace, clear story, easy to access and high entertainment - a factor that is suitable for the psychology of the Tet audience. However, many stages do not stop at laughter but also try to incorporate social issues, professional ethics, human beliefs and choices, to create depth for the work.
The end of the year is also a good time for the stage to experiment with a new face or a new role for a familiar artist. The fact that actor Tien Luat is directing a Tet play for the first time, or People's Artist Hong Van boldly gave the right to organize it to a young crew, shows the effort to rejuvenate the creative team. This is a positive signal in the context of the stage needing new storytelists to reach young audiences.
The problem of keeping the audience
In addition to opportunities, the year-end theater stage also faces many pressures. First of all, there is revenue pressure. The Tet season is considered the time to "save" finances, so each play not only requires artistic quality but also has to sell tickets. Works that do not create attraction will be quickly withdrawn from the show schedule, giving way to more popular plays.
Second pressure comes from repetition. Tet audiences often expect laughter, but if plays only revolve around familiar, easy-to-miss motives, the stage will gradually lose its appeal. Therefore, many directors are forced to find a way to balance between entertainment and content depth - a difficult problem in the context of urgent preparation time.
Increasing production costs are also a big challenge. From actor salaries, stage design, costumes to communication and promotion costs, all create pressure for stage units in the context of the audience's purchasing power not really fully recovering. Many stages have to accept the risk of investing in new scripts or unfamiliar genres to avoid boredom.
For artists, the year-end performance season means a tight work schedule. Many actors have to run parallel to stage, movies and TV shows. Maintaining acting performance, avoiding replication of roles and ensuring performance quality is a big challenge, especially for plays that require heavy psychology or a lot of movement.
However, overall, the year-end stage plays are still an important test for the vitality of Ho Chi Minh City's stage. This is not only a revenue race for Tet but also an opportunity for units to affirm their identity, experiment with new directions and seek loyal audiences. If the Tet season is well utilized and innovation pressure is overcome, the theater can completely create momentum for development in the new year.
