The theatre on July 19 signed cooperation contracts with travel firms and introduced its new shows that feature various Vietnamese musical genres.
The theatre will launch its “Spring Festival” show on July 30, performing every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for tourists.
This show emphasizes entertainment rather than just the classical cheo art, advertising the unique features and beauty of various forms of Vietnamese music, song, and dance.
“Spring Festival” is a variety show, introducing quan ho, hat xam, ca tru, chau van and cheo through a story. Before the show, pamphlets in Vietnamese and English will be delivered to audiences to provide them with information about the history of Vietnamese traditional arts. The show will not be performed by the theatre’s senior artists, but rather by young talents.
To celebrate Hanoi’s 1000th anniversary, the Hanoi Cheo Theatre is also arranging a cheo drama about a historical character named Cao Ba Quat.
Cheo is a form of generally satirical musical theatre, often encompassing dance, traditionally performed by Vietnamese peasants in northern Vietnam. It is usually performed outdoors by semi-amateur touring groups, stereotypically in a village square or the courtyard of a public building, although it is today increasingly also performed indoors and by professional performers.
Cheo origins date to the 12th century during the Ly Dynasty and has existed in its present form since roughly the 16th century. It derives from folk traditions, and was orally transmitted; unlike courtly theater traditions, it employs no scenery and sparse costumes and makeup. It involves a combination of traditional set pieces and improvisational routines appropriate to amateur theatre. It often carries of a message of satirical criticism of the existing social order. The traditional musical ensemble consisted of fiddle, flute, and drum, though in modern recreations more instruments are used.
