MEKONG DELTA — Traditional arts troupes in the Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta are working on new projects carrying unique cultural values to celebrate Việt Nam Culture Day on November 24.

The Vàm Cỏ Cải Lương Troupe of Tây Ninh Province, one of the region’s leading traditional art troupes, will launch Ký Ức Cải Lương – Sử Việt (Memories of Cải Lương – Vietnamese History), a series of classic cải lương (reformed opera) plays highlighting the country’s history and historical figures.

People’s Artist Hồ Thị Ngọc Trinh, the troupe’s director, noted that the programme aims to celebrate Việt Nam Culture Day on November 24 and mark National Great Unity Day, tied with 2026 Culture and National Great Unity Week.

Trinh emphasised that the event gives those working in culture and the arts an opportunity to better understand their responsibility to preserve and promote national cultural values.

She added that the troupe’s celebration reflects its members’ honour, responsibility and love for the arts.

The programme will begin with Tiếng Trống Mê Linh (The Sounds of Mê Linh Drums), written by playwrights Việt Dung and Vĩnh Điền and first staged by the Thanh Minh-Thanh Nga Troupe, a well-known cải lương troupe in HCM City in 1977.

Directed by Trinh, the play delves into the lives of Trưng Trắc and Trưng Nhị, the two sisters who led the nation’s first resistance movement against Eastern Han Chinese occupation in AD 40.

The sisters led their troops on elephants to repel the invasions. Their victories liberated the country after 247 years of Chinese domination.

The 130-minute performance will feature Meritorious Artist Ngọc Đợi as Trưng Trắc and Lê Hoàng Nghi as Thi Sách, Thu Mỹ as Trưng Nhị, People’s Artist Vương Tuấn as Đô Trinh, and Võ Hoàng Dư as Đông Bảng, along with more than 40 artists, dancers, musicians and technicians.

The show will be broadcast live on the TV and radio channels of Tây Ninh newspaper, Television and Radio, as well as social media platforms of the Vàm Cỏ Troupe to serve not only local audiences but also the public in different regions, particularly younger generations.

Trinh said that the Ký Ức Cải Lương – Sử Việt programme will become a platform connecting arts troupes and generations of artists and audiences who love cải lương, a southern theatre genre that emerged in the early 1920s in the Mekong River Delta.

The Vàm Cỏ Troupe plans to host the programme every quarter. 

Since 2027, the troupe will invite cải lương troupes from the Southern region to join the performance and cultural exchanges, such as the Tây Đô Cải Lương Troupe of Cần Thơ City, the Hương Tràm Cải Lương Troupe of Cà Mau Province, the Vĩnh Long Cải Lương Troupe of Vĩnh Long Province, and the An Giang Provincial Cultural and Arts Centre. 

The exchanges aim to expand stage time for performers, share experiences, and bring more valuable works closer to the public.

The Vàm Cỏ Troupe was previously the Long An Cải Lương Troupe. It was renamed after the merger to strengthen the connection between the two provinces of Tây Ninh and Long An, where the Vàm Cỏ Đông River flows through.

The Long An Troupe achieved top prizes at national festivals in recent years.

Its latest play, Người Con Của Rừng Tràm (Son of the Melaleuca Forest), won the best play at the biennial National Cải Lương Festival held in Cần Thơ City last November.

The play, directed by People’s Artists Triệu Trung Kiên and Hồ Ngọc Trinh, highlights the life and career of revolutionary Trương Văn Bang and the victory of Láng Le - Bàu Cò led by Bang in 1948.

The troupe also received awards for best play for Cuộc Đời Của Mẹ (The Mother’s Life) at the festival in 2018, and Bên Dòng Long Khốt (Along the Long Khốt River) in 2022.

Revolutionary play

The Tây Đô Cải Lương Troupe of Cần Thơ will stage Tiếng Hò Sông Hậu (Folk Tunes on Hậu River), a play featuring a revolutionary theme, as part of the city’s celebration of Việt Nam Culture Day.

The play was written by playwright Điêu Huyền, a native of Cần Thơ. It was first performed at the beginning of the 1980s by the Sài Gòn 2 Cải Lương Troupe, starring People’s Artist and theatre director Huỳnh Nga, and veterans Út Bạch Lan, Trọng Hữu and Giang Châu.

Set along the Hậu River, the work revolves around the life of farmers in the South in the 1940s and their struggle against cruel and oppressive rulers and French colonialists. The farmers later joined revolutionaries and soldiers to rise up and overthrow the feudal system and colonialists.

Directed by Meritorious Artist Lê Nguyên Đạt, the restaged version will highlight cải lương stars People’s Artist Quế Trân and Meritorious Artists Lê Tứ, together with artists from the Tạy Đô Troupe, such as Phương Anh, Lê Duy and Hồng Thủy.

Trân shared that she had never performed in Tiếng Hò Sông Hậu, so she was very happy with the new role, as well as her first collaboration with the Tây Đô Troupe.

She said, “Each character in the play has its own distinct presence that helped establish the reputations of many veteran artists in the past.”

The play, Tiếng Hò Sông Hậu, will be staged at 7pm on November 15 and 24 at the Cần Thơ City Cultural and Arts Centre in Cái Khế Ward. Admission tickets are free.

The November 15 show will be broadcast live on the TV channel of the Cần Thơ City newspaper, Television and Radio. — VNS