The cultural legacy of TUỒNG: History behind the masks (1)

What is the first image appearing in your mind when thinking about Tuồng? Let me take a guess. Colorful masks, right? So today, let's dive into the story of Tuồng - the history of cultural pride behind these masks.

The emergence of cultural pride

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Tuồng, also known as hát bội, is considered to be the most classic and knowledgeable form of Vietnamese theatre. Unlike Chèo, it centers around morally honorable characters, totally loyal to their countries, and willing to sacrifice themselves for the fate of their countries. Tuồng also gives moral lessons on responsibility towards family and the community. The grandeur, the tragic and heroic is what makes Tuồng so special.

However, the origin of Tuồng is still debatable. However, most scholars believe that Tuồng originates from traditional dancing and the traditional play of ancient Viet people but was later influenced by Chinese opera through a series of events.

Tuồng performing artists

According to historical records, around 1005, a Chinese actor named Liêu Thủ Tâm came to Hoa Lư and presented the popular singing style from the Song Dynasty. King Lê Long Đĩnh employed him, appointing him as the head of a troupe to teach the court ladies to sing in the palace. His singing style influenced Tuồng a lot, thus Liêu Thủ Tâm is considered one of the founders of Tuồng.

However, Liêu Thủ Tâm wasn't the person who changed Tuồng from a dancing play into an opera form. During the Trần Dynasty, General Hưng Đạo Đại vương Trần Quốc Tuấn captured a Yuan soldier named Lý Nguyên Cát, who was originally an actor. The general spared Cát's life and ordered him to teach this style of singing to the soldiers. He then performed a play titled Vương mẫu hiến đào for the king and the court officials. The performance was a success, and everyone was impressed. This event transformed Vietnamese traditional theatre. From this point, Tuồng and Chèo performers sang the line instead of saying them, while a variety of roles - such as đán nương (female lead), quan nhân (male lead), châu tử (general), and sửu nô (the buffoon) - occurred in a play.

Glory days of Tuồng

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Although developed from the early days of Vietnam civilization, Tuồng flourished in the 17th century thanks to Đào Duy Từ - a scholar, court official, and also a culturist. He laid the foundation of Tuồng with his broad knowledge and his love for art flowing in his blood. Along with that, he also created the government branch for performing arts, organizing numerous teams and training them how to perform this art.

From these principles, numerous Tuồng plays sprang up. Under the Nguyễn dynasty, Tuồng reached its peak. It was favored by kings, who commissioned plays, offered numerous privileges, and established schools to train artists. Many notable playwrights, such as Đào Tấn, created significant works. In the folk culture, this form of theater also had a substantial impact, especially in Bình Định.

Struggle Amidst New Artistic Trends

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In the 20th century, the emergence of cải lương and spoken drama attracted many audiences. Tuồng still gradually lost its place among the audience of this time, despite attempts to revive it with a new form called "tuồng xuân nữ," which involved performing plays with modern social themes and singing in the "xuân nữ" style, This new form blended cải lương elements and Chinese martial arts. Nevertheless, the number of tuồng enthusiasts continued to decline.

A Tuồng performance (Source: VTV)

In early 20th-century Hanoi, there was a theatre dedicated to tuồng called Quảng Lạc Theater. Its performance style was similar to the tuồng of central Vietnam.

When the Democratic Republic of Vietnam was established, tuồng was initially viewed as a relic of feudalism. However, President Hồ Chí Minh later took it seriously and praised it. Tuồng became recognized as a distinctive art form and was developed further, with artists from the North, Central, and South coming together to form troupes and establish training programs. Several researchers emerged, and artists continued to inherit and innovate upon this valuable aspect of Vietnamese art, making it one of the main forms of theatre in Vietnam throughout the 20th century, well-loved by the public.

Tragically, on the brink of the 21st century, like many other traditional Vietnamese art forms, tuồng has been losing its status and audience in the era of integration, facing a shortage of human resources and the risk of decline.