Circus show «Hào khí Việt Nam» («The Spirit of Vietnam»)

   History here is told with bodies rather than words: horse acts, aerial flights and a live score trace a path from the Âu Lạc kingdom to the martial spirit of the Trần dynasty. Hanoi's circus has built a programme for the independence season and plays it through the first days of September.

   Artistic direction is by People's Artist Tống Toàn Thắng, head of the Vietnam Circus Federation; the programme is run by Meritorious Artist Đỗ Hùng and Phùng Đắc Nhẫn. Its centrepiece is «Hào khí Đông A», a sequence recreating the fighting spirit of the Trần era through horse riding acts, warrior figures and dynastic banners. The show closes with «Lá cờ Tổ quốc», a living tableau built around the national flag.

   The performance schedule:

• — 1 September - 10:00 and 16:30
• — 2 September - 10:00 and 16:30
• — 5 September - 16:30
• — 6 September - 10:00

   No performances are announced for 3 and 4 September, and the venue has already marked both sessions on 1 September as sold out — tickets remain for 2, 5 and 6 September.

   Alongside the historical thread the show keeps everything children come to a circus for: aerial work on four rotating wheels, flying trapeze, balance acts, animal numbers and clowns. According to the venue, the cast includes performers who recently won prizes at an international circus festival.

   It suits families with children and adults drawn to the historical narrative alike. Circus works almost without dialogue, so you can follow everything on the ring without a word of Vietnamese.

   The round stage sits next to Công viên Thống Nhất, one of the city's main parks, in one of the few permanent circus buildings in the country. Seats are picked from a hall plan online and the ticket arrives as a QR code shown at the door.

   National Day week in the capital is loud and mostly outdoors; here the whole story is folded onto a single ring, and the history lands without a lecture.