‘Immature debt’ – a work about President Ho Chi Minh’s youth

The play adapted from the work of the same name by writer and screenwriter Nguyen The Ky, premiered on the evening of May 19 at the Hanoi Opera House, on the occasion of President Ho Chi Minh’s 132th birthday.

The opening is the image of a young man named Nguyen Tat Thanh (played by Minh Hai) entering Saigon, preparing to go out to find a way to save the country. In the flashback, the events from birth to adulthood of the character appear. Thereby, the work shows the love of family and homeland, the change in perception and thought of the main character.

Excerpt from ‘Immortal Debt’ 1

With a duration of 120 minutes, the crew selected typical slices from the first 20 years of President Ho Chi Minh’s life. Nguyen Sinh Cung was born in the arms of his grandparents and parents one day in the middle of the May lotus season in Nghe An. In 1901, Nguyen Sinh Cung’s mother – Mrs. Hoang Thi Loan – died in Hue, when her husband and first son were on official duty in the Thanh country. Nguyen Sinh Nhuan – Nguyen Sinh Cung’s younger brother – also died not long after because of hunger, thirst and illness.

The turning point that strongly influenced Nguyen Tat Thanh’s thought was when his father – Mr. Nguyen Sinh Sac, trier of Binh Khe district, Binh Dinh – was recalled to Hue to be punished for defending the poor and encouraging patriotism. .. When his father and brother returned to Hue, Nguyen Tat Thanh was introduced by his father’s old friend to teach at Duc Thanh School.

Excerpt from “Immature Debt”

After that, Nguyen Tat Thanh left for Saigon, to the office of Lien Thanh Trade Shop. This is a business organization founded by patriotic scholars in Binh Thuan in 1906 in response to the Duy Tan movement initiated by Phan Chau Trinh, Tran Quy Cap and Huynh Thuc Khang. Here, Nguyen Tat Thanh looked for opportunities to board a ship to France, to find a way to save the country.

Young debt also integrates Nguyen Tat Thanh’s private emotional life, in addition to worries about his home country. When talking with acquaintances, Nguyen Tat Thanh told about a similar time a girl named Hue. Hue is beautiful, gentle, born into a family of mandarins, once a student of his father in Hue. However, King Thanh Thai was dethroned by the French, his father Nguyen Tat Thanh was sent to another place as a mandarin, and the two lost contact since then. At the Saigon harbor, when he was about to go to France, Nguyen Tat Thanh met Hue again. They greeted and hurriedly said goodbye.

With Cai luong as the main theme, the work combines many traditional art forms such as Nghe Tinh vi Giam folk songs, Hue folk songs and Southern folk songs… In the scene where the boy Nguyen Sinh Sac and the girl Hoang Thi Loan and their friends play and chat on a moonlit night by the Lam River, the melody Dating resounded loudly.

In the scene where Mrs. Hoang Thi Loan was sick, she asked Nguyen Sinh Cung to sing a lullaby to her crying youngest child, song Lullaby integrated: “Oh dear, lull me to death. Let my mother go to the market to buy lime and eat betel nut”. When Mrs. Loan died, it was raining and windy, on one side, Nguyen Sinh Cung called her mother, on the other side, the baby Nguyen Sinh Nhuan cried loudly, Hue folk songs sounded, making many spectators moved.

French music and dance were integrated in a few scenes in Saigon, when Nguyen Tat Thanh boarded the train and asked to be a cook.

Mr. Ngo Ba Luc – the audience of the show – commented that the work is impressive when combining Cai Luong and Vi Giam folk songs from Nghe, creating a sweet space. “The director has refined and selected songs that can combine the two genres and blend together. When the artist is singing vi Giam and moving to the old house, I still find it very fluent. A performance about the President. Ho Chi Minh is full of poetry, romance and solemnity, respect,” said Mr. Ba Luc.

Earlier, at the press conference to introduce the work, director Trieu Trung Kien said that the challenge when making a play about President Ho Chi Minh was how to be both attractive and attractive to the audience, and not to duplicate the works. previous product. The crew spent a lot of time participating in scientific seminars, researching about President Ho Chi Minh, to integrate materials into the play. The work was prepared two years ago, but due to translation, the theater was only staged and premiered earlier this year.

Young debt is the first part of the theatrical project Thousands of miles of water on the image of President Ho Chi Minh performed by the Vietnam Cai Luong Theater. The following two parts are expected to be released in 2023 and 2024, focusing on Nguyen Tat Thanh’s journey to work abroad and then return home to make revolution.

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