‘Third-class actor’: An apology to the past

The work premiered last weekend at the Thanh Nien Cultural House (District 1, Ho Chi Minh City) – the new performance of the Hong Hac stage directed by the director. Viet Linh establish. Adapted from the short story of the same name by Ly Lan, the play is set in a small stage where unknown actors make a living.

‘Third-class actor’ – tragedy not only on stage

After a show, My Duyen (Ky Thao) – a girl specializing in supporting roles – was given flowers by a French overseas Vietnamese audience backstage. He offered to invite her to pretend to be Mr. Tu’s daughter.Thanh Dien) – his half-asleep father – because she is in Australia, unable to return home. He wanted her close to him, taking care of his father so that he could enjoy the last days of his life. Promised to pay a high salary, Duyen accepted the offer in a pinch because she had to send money for her medical treatment in her hometown. From here, a father-son play takes place in real life, Duyen worries whether Mr. Tu can find out.

The acting of the two main faces – Ky Thao and Thanh Dien – creates attraction for the work. Returning after two years of absence from the stage, Thanh Dien plays the role of an old man in a wheelchair, whose mind is no longer awake. Keeping a cold performance with a steady voice, Thanh Dien makes viewers get caught up in the details. At times, the audience did not know when Duyen’s role was revealed, sometimes laughing because Tu’s careless words accidentally made the characters feel guilty.

In the second act, the lives of the two main characters are gradually revealed through intimate dialogues. They – two strangers – were forced to participate in the play because of their own feelings. For Mr. Tu, it was the last role of his life. Because he wanted to find his lost son, he pretended to be in a coma so that his children could take him home. He wanted to see his lost son one last time to say sorry to the past. With Duyen, in addition to money, she accepted to be Mr. Tu’s daughter because she wanted to feel close to her loved ones. Duyen was orphaned at a young age, living with her older sister who is more than 15 years old. Lacking family affection, she followed the acting profession just to be called “daddy”, “mama” to strangers.

Screenwriter Viet Linh and director Le Chi Na promote their forte in literary dialogue. The characters of Mr. Tu and My Duyen evoked viewers’ emotions through philosophical lines: “Every age has a role to play, but the role of the elderly is more painful and difficult”, “Life has many layers. child, sometimes you have to close your eyes to see it all, you have to pretend to be deaf to hear it all”, “There are secrets that when you find the key, you become its prisoner”…

In addition to the family love story, the play shows the perspective of good people – bad guys, the money vortex between life. Opposite Duyen is Chi (Kim Hai) – a husband who always runs after money, seeing it as the only way to solve all problems. Dat (Dang Khoa) – another “third-rate actor” – wondered if he should save someone who had an accident in the middle of the road after being beaten to the point of bloodshed by their loved ones. The work sometimes becomes pieces of dialogue, endless debate about human outlook, then left open for the audience to find the answer on their own.

The scene of the play is choreographed simply but effectively. With only two backdrops, the director portrays two different worlds: the precarious and deprived life behind the scenes of unknown actors, and the luxurious but cold hospital where Mr. Tu is treated. The follow lights sometimes only shine on the actors, depicting two lonely moods finding each other in ironic circumstances.

The minus point of the work is that the sound has many problems, the voice of the actor is sometimes gained, sometimes lost. At times, they had to manually adjust the microphone on stage. The long transition – even though the scene is not too complicated – also makes the audience feel less emotional when watching.

Hundreds of people attended the concert to celebrate the return of the Red Crane after a year of being affected by the epidemic. The audience of Phuoc Chau (HCMC) said that they watched this play for the second time, the first time was in 2015, which was staged by a male director. He wanted to expand the emotional range when watching the version of a new director, new cast. “And I didn’t go in vain, because this time, I had more contemplative emotions. In addition, the pandemic has disrupted all cultural activities – not only the theater stage in Saigon, now. Audiences and artists have the opportunity to reunite, even more precious,” Phuoc Chau said.

Director Viet Linh is happy to see that the stage continues to light up after a long time. With the team, despite many difficulties, they always pursue a safe career formula, faithful to the chosen goal – honoring emotions, bold in literature and cinema. Next July, Hong Hac will continue to release a new play – Everything we haven’t said, Adapted from the novel by Marc Levy.

Stage Flamingo was established in December 2015, with dozens of plays were staged and performed. Some works are well received by the audience such as nature (Directors: Viet Linh, Pham Hoang Nam), Brilliant ashes (directed by Le Thuy), Devil’s Hour (Director Hong Anh), I am a woman (directed by Hanh Thuy)… or experimental plays like Misconception (Director Tay Phong), Tam and the queen (Director Thien Huan)…

Mai Nhat