Youth theatre gets physical in Eden

Bodies tell the story, and innovative, lighting and video techniques dress it up when Eden comes to the Youth Theatre stage.

Body of evidence: Performer Lan Huong (sitting in the middle) plays a heartbroken mother in the highly physical play Eden.

The physical play, an adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's The Story of a Mother, tells the tale of a mother's arduous quest for her beloved daughter. Along the way, she sacrifices her eyes, hands and eventually her own life in an attempt to find Death and ensure her child's reincarnation.

In each of Eden's four 80-minute sections, artists employ diverse forms of theatrical expression and contemporary dance to convey the mother's struggles.

A large screen behind the stage provides a dynamic set, using visual and acoustic effects to add one more form of expression.

The play is the creation of People's Artist and director Le Hung, who has led 25 young performers from the Physical Play Troupe, as well as People's Artists Lan Huong and Le Khanh, in two months of preparation.

Eden follows a line of classic productions the theatre has presented within the past few years, including works of William Shakespeare, Henrik Ibsen and Moliere but, as a physical play, Eden's format is entirely fresh.

Such was the intention of the theatre and Denmark's Cultural Development and Exchange Fund, the play's sponsor. The fund expects this new theatrical medium to help Vietnamese audiences access the work of the great Danish writer.

Throughout November, the show will be performed for free as a cultural exchange activity for about 3,000 students of art schools and social science and humanities institutions in Hanoi. After that initial trial, performance of Eden will be open to the public.

For more information, call (04) 943 0820 or visit the Youth Theatre box office at 11 Ngo Thi Nham Street.

(Source: Viet Nam News)