Play «Lôi Vũ (Giai Điệu Tội Lỗi)» (Thunderstorm)

   A sweltering evening before the storm, a wealthy household where the important things are never said out loud, and an ending that leaves nobody in the family unchanged. A small stage in Ho Chi Minh City takes on the play that generations of Vietnamese actors have used to measure themselves, and gives it for one night only. If you want Vietnamese drama in its most classical form, this is your evening.

   «Lôi Vũ» — Thunderstorm — was written in 1933 by the Chinese playwright Cao Yu, known in Vietnam as Tào Ngu, and counts as a milestone of modern Chinese drama. Four acts, one stifling summer day, the household of mine owner Chu Phác Viên, and blood ties the characters themselves are the last to learn about. Vietnamese stagings go back to 1986, and in 2019 the same storyline reached television audiences as the series «Tiếng Sét Trong Mưa».

   The Sân khấu Quốc Thảo version is not a translation but an adaptation — cảm tác, as the poster puts it — carrying the second title «Giai Điệu Tội Lỗi», the melody of sin. It was written and directed by Quốc Thảo, an Honoured Artist of Vietnam: in the late 1990s he made his name as Chu Bình, the elder son in this very play, and twice took the national Mai Vàng award for stage directing, in 2000 and 2002.

   Eight actors of the company are on stage:

• — Vương Thanh Tâm
• — Minh Huy
• — Thành Hưng
• — Kim Quốc Nhân
• — Hữu Khang
• — Thanh Quỳnh
• — Mộc Anh
• — Doãn Cảnh Nghi

   Sân khấu Quốc Thảo opened in November 2017, set up by directors Quốc Thảo and Quốc Thuận together with the city training and experimental centre for literature and arts. It is a stage and an acting school at once, so the hall is small and the acting happens a few metres from your seat.

   The play is performed in Vietnamese. The plot of Thunderstorm is documented in detail, so with the outline in mind you can follow the evening through the acting itself. The cheapest rate is the student ticket, the regular seats cost more, and tickets are on sale for this single evening.

   A classic staged by people for whom it is a personal story — a solid reason to spend an evening in a real Vietnamese theatre.