New version of famous ‘cải lương’ play restaged

SOUTHERN DRAMA: Movie star Hồng Ánh performs in Nửa Đời Hương Phấn (The Flavour), a 90-minute play that offers a taste of drama in the South. Photo courtesy of Hoàng Thái Thanh Troupe.

HCM CITY— A new version of a popular cải lương (reformed opera) play by late scriptwriters Hà Triều and Hoa Phượng, leading theatre artists from South Việt Nam in the 1950s-60s, has been restaged in HCM City.

The show, Nửa Đời Hương Phấn (The Flavour), features love and betrayal. Southern culture and lifestyle are also featured.

The musical was a phenomenon after its debut by the Thanh Minh and Thanh Nga Troupe in Sài Gòn (now HCM City) in 1957.

Its writers, Triều and Phượng, used new elements from the drama form of tragedy in French theatre.

The play is recognised as a Vietnamese version of La Dame aux Camélias (The Lady with the Camellias), commonly known as Camille, a novel Alexandre Dumas first published in 1848, and subsequently adapted by the author for the stage.

It has been staged and filmed many times.

This time, Nửa Đời Hương Phấn is directed in a new version for drama by Ái Như, one of the city’s very few female theatre directors.

Như and her artists from the private drama troupe Hoàng Thái Thanh have worked to renew a very old story while offering lessons about love and life.

Her 90-minute production portrays a love story between Tùng, a rich man, and Hương, a rural young woman who worked as a prostitute to support her family.

Tùng’s father disapproves of Hương’s background and the relationship, so Tùng is forced to marry another girl.

On his wedding day, he realises his future wife is Hương’s younger sister.

NEW PLAY - Talented artists of the HCM City-based private drama troupe Hoàng Thái Thanh are working on a new play about social issues called Nửa Đời Hương Phấn (The Flavour) by female producer Ái Như. Photo courtesy of Hoàng Thái Thanh Troupe.

“My play will offer drama in the style of the South,” said the play’s director Như, who has 30 years in the industry.

Như invited movie star Hồng Ánh to play a lead role.

Ánh won several top prizes at Vietnamese and international film festivals, including the Golden Sky for Best Movie Actress by Việt Nam Cinematography Association in 2000 and 2007 and Best Actress award at the fifth Dubai International Film Festival in 2008.

She represented Việt Nam at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008, 2011 and 2013.

Ánh also works as a film director and producer. Her debut feature film as a director, The Way Station, won the Best Film, Best Actor and Best Director of Photography awards at the ASEAN International Film Festival & Awards (AIFFA) 2017 held in Malaysia.

The film also won the Best Story award at the 58th Asia Pacific Film Festival in Taipei in 2018.

Last year, Ánh was a juror at the 6th ASEAN International Films Festival (AIFFA) in Sarawak, Malaysia from August 2 to 4.

The play Nửa Đời Hương Phấn is staged on weekends at 139 Bắc Hải Street, District 10. — VNS