VIETNAMESE DRAMA ARTISTS, FANS BEWITCHED BY CHINESE PLAYS

HANOI - Whenever curtains went down on the stage after each episode of The Wilderness, one of the most famous plays by Chinese playwright Cao Yu and performed by Vietnamese artists, the audience would clap their hands enthusiastically.

Cao Yu (1910-1996), one of the greatest playwrights of China, is best-known for such works as Thunderstorm (1933), Sunrise (1936), The Wilderness (1937) and Peking Man (1940).

Last Sunday night here in the Vietnamese capital, the Vietnamese adaption of The Wilderness made debut on the stage with a new name Kim Tu (Jinzi - the leading female character in the play), with the presence of officials from the Vietnamese Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Chinese Embassy in Vietnam, and audience from all walks of life.