Play «Thuốc Đắng Giã Tật» (Bitter Medicine)

   The title is a Vietnamese proverb — the medicine that tastes worst is the one that cures — and the Lê Thánh Tôn stage puts it to the test for one evening, with a cast Saigon audiences know well enough to recognise by name alone.

   The script is by Nguyễn Quốc, directed by Hùng Lâm, with a set by Lê Văn Định. The leads are Đại Nghĩa and Mỹ Duyên, alongside Cẩm Hò, Đông Hải, Đình Toàn, Quốc Tuấn, Tâm Anh, Mai Phượng, Bảo Cường, Phước Lộc, Kan Lê and Quách Bình.

   Worth knowing before you book:

• — A single performance in this run, on Saturday evening, 29 August
• — Two seating grades, VIP and Regular, service fee included in the price
• — Sales for the late-August run opened on 16 August and each night has a limited allocation

   The theatre has not published a synopsis, so if you want the plot in advance, it is not available yet. What is certain is the team: Hùng Lâm has directed many of IDECAF's comedies, and Đại Nghĩa and Mỹ Duyên have shared this stage for years. The play is performed in Vietnamese without subtitles.

   IDECAF has been running since September 1997 and had passed 5,000 performances by the end of 2016 — an unusual figure for a private theatre in Vietnam.

   The hall is in the old District 1, right by the Đồng Khởi area.