HCM CITY — HCM City's theatres are struggling to find actors as more and more of them make a beeline for television which offers better money and a higher profile. City-based studios plan to make 1,800 TV serials this year compared to just 300 four years ago, and are in need of a huge number of artists.
"Many young and established artists from theatre are now working with film studios," Phuoc Sang, director of the Saigon Theatre, said.
His theatre has now been closed for two months after many of its artists jumped ship.
Popular venues like Phu Nhuan Theatre and the minitheatre at the Institute for Culture Exchange with France (IDECAF) too face the problem but are not making changes to their daily schedule just yet.
"Shows are staged every day," Huynh Anh Tuan, manager of the IDECAF theatre, said. "But some artists have to play two roles to replace artists who are now on TV."
At the minitheatre at 5B Vo Van Tan, young artists have been acting in leading roles for the last several months because well-known artists like Viet Anh and Kim Xuan are busy with TV serials.
Hong Van, the manager of Phu Nhuan Theatre, said: "This year leading roles in plays staged at my theatre have been given to several artists.
"Thus, our shows are not affected when any artist does not come from a film shoot to the theatre in time."
Many actors are ready to give up theatre because stage plays reach fewer people than television and film studios pay very well.
Hoa Hiep, a young actor, has for several years played the lead Phu Nhuan Theatre's plays. But his popularity is only rising now after appearing in TV serials like the 75-episode Mui Ngo Gai (The Scent of Sage Leaves) and 67-episode Cong Mat Troi (The Sun Gate), both on the aspirations of young people.
Minh Luan and Vo Thanh Tam have been able to buy new houses after appearing in TV serials in the last three years.
Several city theatres have staged no new plays for several months because the top directors have also been lured away by TV. — VNS