Beautiful Actor - Meritorious Artist Vo Minh Lam is passionate about performing Vietnamese historical plays
Báo Thanh niên•25/10/2024
In recent years, the handsome actor Vo Minh Lam has appeared frequently in historical cai luong plays, leaving a very good impression on the audience.
Truly, Vietnamese reformed opera is a valuable part of art that only those with great passion can participate in despite many difficult conditions. Thanh Nien had an interview with Meritorious Artist Vo Minh Lam about the things he is concerned about.
Meritorious Artist Vo Minh Lam as Minh Mang, Thy Phuong as Hue Phi in the play Le Van Duyet - The person with 9 death sentences
PHOTO: HK
Recently, he played the role of King Minh Mang in the play Le Van Duyet - The person carrying 9 death sentences , which was praised by the audience as "excellent". It can be said that he is a rare person who portrays the image of King Minh Mang in history books almost exactly, according to the imagination of the people. Surely he has invested a lot in the character?Meritorious Artist Vo Minh Lam : I have played the role of King Minh Mang 3 times. The first was the play Le Cong Ky An directed by Meritorious Artist My Hang in 2020. The next version was the play An Tu produced by TFS (Ho Chi Minh City Television Film Studio), this play won the gold medal at the 2023 National Television Festival. And this time it is the play Le Van Duyet - The person carrying 9 death sentences in 2024. I think I have a connection with this character, so every time I take on a role, I invest differently, especially in the play Le Van Duyet, I have to try to find a new way to express it. I even ordered two costumes (VND 30 million) to be exactly like the historical documents to portray the character as accurately as possible. I read many historical sources and pondered and imagined carefully. Because this was a king who ascended the throne in a special situation, when Le Van Duyet had previously chosen to assist Prince Dan instead of him, and society at that time was still chaotic and messy after King Gia Long had just passed away. If he was not steadfast, determined, and decisive, he would not be able to govern the country. Minh Mang was torn between things he did not want to do but still had to do it, even had to put aside personal feelings for national affairs. In fact, Minh Mang always invested in the country, even respected people who did not respect him (like Le Van Duyet for example) just for the common good. Thinking carefully, he was not happy, not very joyful. I had to act in a way that the audience would be both afraid and sympathetic, and understand Minh Mang, not just love and hate one way. There were some scenes where I had to use the "reverse psychological acting" method, where when I was happy I acted like I was angry, and when I was angry I acted like I was happy to hide my true feelings. Obviously, this is a difficult role in your artistic portfolio. Did Director - Meritorious Artist Hoa Ha support you much? Especially the scene where she "threw" Hue Phi was so good, expressing the pent-up anger that she didn't know how to vent on anyone other than Hue Phi closest to her... - Yes. This is indeed a difficult role, but I really like it, because it gives me an interesting challenge. There's not much room to act, only appearing in 3 scenes, but having to portray a complex character. Director Hoa Ha has a "golden hand" when it comes to historical plays, she comes up with many ways to support the artists. However, in this play, she focused more on the role of Le Van Duyet, while for my role as Minh Mang, she only outlined the idea and plot and let me figure out how to express it specifically. But that's already very valuable. Working with Hoa Ha, I will naturally feel "very different", rest assured that there will be something to see and something to discuss.
Meritorious Artist Vo Minh Lam as Le Thanh Ton, Meritorious Artist Thoai My as Concubine Nguyen Thi Anh in the play The Night Before the Royal Day
PHOTO: HK
Willing to receive a salary at the "service" level to bring reformed opera to young people
It seems that you are very interested in performing Vietnamese historical plays? But in the current market, historical plays are still harder to sell than colorful plays while the rehearsal time is several times more. Do you feel sad? - I admit that practicing Vietnamese historical plays is very difficult, because you have to memorize the lines, not daring to miss any words, not daring to "blur" because there is a risk of going off the mark. Not only that, you also have to grasp the lines of your co-actors to juggle accurately, otherwise if you miss a little bit, it's all over. Anyone who performs historical plays is under a lot of pressure. But sadly, practicing for a whole month, sometimes only performing a few shows. I'm not talking about the salary, I just feel sorry for the effort that artists invest in history. Even colorful plays cannot be performed as much as before. That is the common difficulty of Cai Luong in the face of the wave of the entertainment market with too many things to watch, young audiences rarely seek out Cai Luong while the state still promotes it as a valuable asset of national art.
Meritorious Artist Vo Minh Lam as Chieu Van, Meritorious Artist Tu Suong as Viet Truc in the play Thunder echoes on Nhu Nguyet river
PHOTO: HK
What suggestions do you have for the development of reformed opera?
- I just hope that theeducation sector will design some hours to learn traditional melodies, so that children can get acquainted with them so that they can approach traditional music and reformed opera later. You have to get acquainted with any dish first. Secondly, if the government promotes reformed opera, it should provide a source of funding to invite young audiences to watch, as a way to train future audiences, otherwise we will no longer have people to enjoy it. I am willing to accept a "service" salary, as long as I can bring the work to young audiences. The current troupes and performances are very small, so how do you earn your main income? - I am often invited to sing at events, festivals, and brand introductions. I just take the short term to support the long term. But artists who want to be good at their profession still have to perform in long plays, serious plays, even if the salary is small, it is the happiness of doing the job, it cannot be compared. Thank you. I wish you many new achievements.
Meritorious Artist Vo Minh Lam has played many roles in Vietnamese historical plays such as: the role of Ly Hue Tong (The Mark of the Transition ), the role of Prince Chieu Van ( Thunder of the Nhu Nguyet River ), Tran Khanh Du ( The Coal Seller Hero ), Le Liem ( Ngu Bo Wharf ), Le Thanh Ton ( The Night Before the Royal Day )...
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