Theater The Girl Kieu

Four theater directors and for new approaches of bringing Kiều to the Stage Conceptual idea and execution: Mr. Sĩ Tiến, Youth Theatre

Truyện Kiều is considered to be the single most important work of Vietnamese literature. The beauty of its language and the vast array of extreme life situations and hopes in this narrative, the miraculous rescue of Kieu and restoration of her life in dignity form an integral part of Vietnam's intellectual cultural heritage.

The epic was first time published in German in 1964 (by Irene and Franz Faber). Translations help to lift "The Girl Kieu" into the rank of world literature. Nguyen Du belongs to the world literary canon like Cervantes, Chekhov, Shakespeare and Goethe. Truyện Kiều even appeals to those who don’t know much about Vietnam – it’s the girl’s story that moves readers. Truyện Kiều has thus become a medium of cultural understanding and rapprochement with Vietnam.

In appreciation of the translation and in veneration of the original and the poet Nguyen Du, the Goethe-Institut has invited four directors to unfold their original and fresh approaches to this subject matter. For the epic heritage of an epic lives on only if it passes the test of time again and again.

What makes the text and its artistic promise of reconciliation with the world still relevant today?
Which image of women is unfolded in the epic?
Today's reader wonders if the female image of Nguyen Du’s KIEU is still relevant today. What has changed in the last decades?
How does this effect the approach four of the most interesting theatre directors in Vietnam and Germany to bring TRUYEN KIEU to the stage today?

directors

Nguyen Si Tien (*1968)

Photo: Si Tien is Deputy Director of the Youth Theater and curating and coordinating this evening. Nguyen Si Tien (1968) trained and started his acting career at Youth Theater in 1990. He graduated from the Faculty of Hanoi University of Theater and Cinema in 2004. Since then he has been staging drama and comedy for the Young and Old at the Youth Theater of Hanoi. He brought pieces on to the stage by Alexander Vampilov (Russia), Arthur Miller (USA) Maurice Materlinck (Belgium). Mr Si Tien has gathered international experience through guest performances in Japan, Korea, PR China. He received numerous national awards for his artistic work, for example recently Gold medal in the Capital Theater Festival 2016 and Gold Medal in the National Drama Theater Festival in Ho Chi Minh City 2018.


Amélie Niermeyer (*1965)

Photo: Amélie Niermeyer studied directing in Sydney, Bonn and Munich. Her career began at the renowned Residenztheater in Munich. Since then she has worked at major German-language theaters in Basel, Berlin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt and Hamburg, and has also taken on numerous commissions as director for opera productions in Germany and abroad. Since 2011, she has also been a director-professor at the Mozarteum Salzburg, where she is presently director of the degree program in Drama and Directing, at the Thomas Bernhard Institute. Since the end of 2018 she has read and prepared herself for this project. She participated in the symposium "Re-Reading Kieu" in Hanoi in July.

Ngo Dang Hong Van (* 1966)

Photo: Hong Van studied at Drama Arts in Ho Chi Minh City. There she also entered her professional acting career. She quickly confirmed her position on the comedy stage. Since 2001, she has been an actor and director and producer of Van Tuan Cinema Theater Joint Stock Company. She is nowadays very well known to the public through stage and television. She received several national awards, among them four Golden Awards in 1991, 1992, 1998 and 2003.

Tran Luc (* 1963)

Photo: Tran Luc studied theatre in Hanoi and Sophia (Bulgaria), has worked sind the 1990’s as actor and built a strong reputation as film director. He was born into a family of artists and is the grandson of two writers Tran Tieu and Tinh Hung. He established Luc Team Theater group. Recent theatre performances were The Jealousy of Cinderella by Moliere, Quẫn by Lộng Chương and Bald Soprano by Eugène Ionesco. He was awarded several national prizes.

Bui Nhu Lai (*1979)

Photo: BUI NHU LAI studied theatre and film in Hanoi and has worked at the Youth Theatre since 2001, where he is Drama Team Leader. He directed children and youth plays with interactive elements and circus art. He arranged and organized performances with a focus on bringing art into social development with topics such as HIV, AIDS, homosexuality, domestic and gender violence. He acquired international experience with student and professional exchange projects in Egypt, Cambodia, Germany, Philippines, PRC and Thailand.

Trailer

 

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