Vietnamese drama artists, fans bewitched by Chinese plays

Whenever curtains went down on the stage after each episode of The Wilderness, one of the most famous plays by Chinese playwright Cao Yu and performed by Vietnamese artists, the audience would clap their hands enthusiastically.

Cao Yu (1910-1996), one of the greatest playwrights of China, is best-known for such works as Thunderstorm (1933), Sunrise (1936), The Wilderness (1937) and Peking Man (1940).

Last Sunday night here in the Vietnamese capital, the Vietnamese adaption of The Wilderness made debut on the stage with a new name Kim Tu (Jinzi - the leading female character in the play), with the presence of officials from the Vietnamese Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Chinese Embassy in Vietnam, and audience from all walks of life.

"This is the first time Vietnamese people have known the Vietnamese version of The Wilderness by Cao Yu. Being professional drama artists, we cannot miss such a great work by Chinese playwright Cao Yu. We want to show that great work on our Vietnamese stage," Nguyen The Vinh, former director of the Vietnam National Drama Theater, told Xinhua after the play ended.

"We want the Vietnamese people to know about another famous play by Chinese famous playwright Cao Yu," Vinh said, noting that among the three most well-known plays by Cao Yu, namely Thunderstorm, Sunrise and The Wilderness, local audience have now enjoyed two adaptions.

"Vietnamese people know Thunderstorm some 30 years ago when the Vietnam Youth Theater made the Vietnamese version of it with the same name," he explained.