Play «Hồn Ma Cô Đào Hát» (The Ghost of the Songstress)

   A ghost story lands better in a small room, and this one holds only about 320 seats — close enough to read an actor’s face from almost any row. The stage sits in the backpacker quarter of central Ho Chi Minh City, a two-minute walk from Bùi Viện, and it is giving this production exactly two Sunday evenings in August, with nothing further on the schedule so far.

   A “cô đào hát” is the leading actress of a traditional cải lương company, so the title alone sets the world: a travelling troupe, stage paint, and a ghost. The script is by Phan Ngoc Lien (Phan Ngọc Liên), directed by Ngoc Hung (Ngọc Hùng). On the official poster the company appears in traditional stage costume — embroidered robes, beaded headdresses, heavy makeup. Six names lead the bill: Gia Bao (Gia Bảo), Pham Yen (Phạm Yến), Minh Du (Minh Dự), Huu Dang (Hữu Đằng), Lam Nguyen (Lâm Nguyễn) and Huynh Quy (Huỳnh Quý), with ten more performers behind them — sixteen on stage in all. What the play is actually about is published nowhere: neither the theatre’s own site nor the ticket seller offers a synopsis, only the poster.

   Come with friends: in a house this size, the row next to you is part of the show. And if you follow the city’s theatre scene, the cast is the draw — sixteen performers is a large company for a room of these dimensions.

   Sân khấu Thế Giới Trẻ is run by the Sài Gòn Phẳng company and reopened in its present form in early 2010 with a plain brief: bring young audiences back to spoken drama. The room splits into a floor section (rows A–M) and an upstairs balcony (rows R–U). Ghost plays are familiar territory here, alongside titles such as Căn nhà ma quái and Mật mã cầu cơ.

   There are only two performances, on 9 and 23 August, and three price tiers — though no single channel sells all three:

• VVIP — 400,000 VND: row A, right at the stage, box office only
• VIP — 360,000 VND
• Standard — 330,000 VND, and a balcony seat costs the same

   Ticketbox lists only the VIP and standard tiers. For row A you have to call the box office on (028) 2228 3825 or 0869 047 971; the usual routine is to pick seats on the theatre’s own seating chart, then phone to hold them.

   This is horror and the supernatural, and no age rating has been announced, so use your own judgement about bringing children. The play is performed in Vietnamese; no subtitles have been announced.

   Book through tickets on ticketbox.vn. Two nights, sixteen actors and a story the theatre is keeping to itself until the curtain goes up — a fair way to spend a Sunday evening.