Basket case: A O Show, a mixture of acrobatics and visual drama, will make several Europe tours in 2015-17. — Photo courtesy of Lune Entertainment

HCM CITY  (VNS) — A O Show, a self-described circus-theatre performance that mixes acrobatics and mime, will make several European tours over the next two years and has tied up with a French theatre for the purpose, a press conference heard yesterday.

Lune Entertainment, the producer of the show, has signed an agreement with Scene nationale de Senart, marking the first time a Vietnamese private entertainment company has tied up with an international partner to take shows abroad.

Vo Thanh Trung, Lune Entertainment director and the show's producer, said the two sides had planned to take the show to French theatres in 2013, but this was delayed "for the show to prove itself in Viet Nam".

"We are proud of the show as it is strong enough to make commercial tours.

"However, [the plan] created pressure that forced us to prepare and invest more."

Jean-Michel Puiffe, director of Scene nationale de Senart, announced the schedule for the first two tours. From June 14 to July 4 it would be performed at two festivals in France and one in Greece, and from November 8 to February 4 in 14 cities in France, he said.

The third tour will take place from April to October next year.

He estimated there would be a total of 90 performances in 26 cities of France, and expected to reach agreements to take it to Britain and Canada soon.

Puiffe described the show as special and unique and deeply revealing of Vietnamese cultural aspects found all the way from a simple village to a modern city within just an hour.

The uniqueness lay in its concept and music and the use of bamboo, he added.

The show, the first in Viet Nam to use contemporary circus, has been performed 400 times and sold 90,000 tickets since its debut in February 2013.

A O Show, which is on often at the Saigon Opera House, will be replaced by Suong Som (The Mist) and Lang Toi (My Village) during its European tours. — VNS