Cai luong veteran’s show had more than laughs
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Cai luong, a Vietnamese modern folk opera, performer and comedian Bao Quoc put on a show last weekend featuring the best roles of his 52-year career.
Over two nights, Quoc dazzled the audience by playing Nhan Tan, an exceptional character in the play “No Than” which earned him Vietnam’s Best Theater Actor prize in 2009. He then played a cunning Tu Do in the Chinese post-Han Dynasty story “Lu Bo hi Dieu Thuyen" (Lü Bu and Diaochan) before transforming into an ignorant feudal official who worships money in “Thi Mau,” a very popular Vietnamese folk tale.
He ended each night with a 45-minute piece from “Di Bien Mot Minh” (Giving Birth Alone), where, for the first time in his career, he has taken up directing.
The play, like others over the two nights, was full of a wry humor that brought not only laughs to the audiences, but a critical eye on society’s moral corruption and hypocrisy.
A devoted advocate of traditional cai luong , Quoc refused to use modern stage equipment, such as LED screens, commonly found in almost all live shows like his. He said this maintained the authentic atmosphere of a traditional cai luong theatre.
Instead, more money and effort went to create elaborately designed theatrical scenery that vividly conveyed the performances to the audience, Quoc said.
And all of his effort paid.
“I was quite sure at the beginning that my show would be at a loss like every other cai luong show,” Quoc said at the end of his Sunday night performance. “But we managed to sell over 80 percent of the tickets each night.”
