HÀ NỘI - The Vietnamese folk tale Cây Tre Trăm Đốt will be taken to the stage to convey a message of environmental protection.
Cây Tre Trăm Đốt (The Bamboo With 100 Sections) is a familiar story to many Vietnamese people.
It tells a story of a rich miser who fools his young servant. The miser promises his servant can marry his daughter if he works hard. Later he doesn't want to keep his promise and he asks the servant to seek a bamboo tree with 100 sections.
The tale will be taken to the stage by director Bùi Như Lai in February with actors from Lệ Ngọc Theatre.
"We will use body language in the play," said Lai at the launching ceremony. "The stage will be decorated with bamboo. Actors will perform to highlight good and evil which are always typical characteristics in Vietnamese folk tales.
"I hope the audience will get to know more about traditional culture and learn moral lessons. The image of bamboo, which is a symbol of Vietnamese rural areas, will be introduced to a foreign audience."
The script for Cây Tre Trăm Đốt was penned by Lê Thế Song.
The script also features Vietnamese typical characteristics such as bamboo, a well, and a temple.
"This time Lệ Ngọc Theatre has a new production to honour bamboo which is a symbol of the Vietnamese," said theatre critic Nguyễn Thị Minh Thái.
"There will be more valuable things than a simple love story in the play such as environmental issues, Vietnamese lifestyle and moral values."
With the play, Lệ Ngọc Theatre wants to affirm that it is on the right track to develop Vietnamese drama works and spread Vietnamese culture to the world, according to producer and owner of the theatre Lệ Ngọc.
"Vietnamese folk tales are plentiful and Vietnamese culture has typical characteristics which attract international friends," said Ngọc. "We want the little audience to understand about Vietnamese traditional culture."
Founded in 2016, Lệ Ngọc Theatre is among few theatres in Hà Nội run by a private firm. It has been popular with plays adapted from Vietnamese folk tales and literature pieces such as Thị Nở Chí Phèo and Tấm Cám.
It has attended international theatre festivals in Monaco, Singapore, the Philippines, South Korea and China.
Lệ Ngọc Theatre's artists won prizes at the ASEAN - China Theatre Festival in 2016 and in 2018.
The play Cây Tre Trăm Đốt will debut in February and will be performed in Hà Nội and HCM City. VNS