Tuá»Âng cải lðáng (, Hán-Nôm: å±æ¹è¯) often referred to as Cải lðáng (Chữ Hán: æ¹è¯), roughly "reformed theater") is a form of modern folk opera in Vietnam. It blends southern Vietnamese folk songs, classical music, hát tuá»Âng (a classical theatre form based on Chinese opera), and modern spoken drama.
Cải lðáng originated in Southern Vietnam in the early 20th century and blossomed in the 1930s as a theatre of the middle class during the country's French colonial period. Cải lðáng is now promoted as a national theatrical form. Unlike the other folk forms, it continued to prove popular with the masses as late as the 1970s and the 1980s especially with a "golden age" of "Cải lðáng" videos in the 1990s, although it is now in decline.
Cải lðáng can be compared to a sort of play with the added aspect of Vá»Âng cá»Â. This term literally means "nostalgia for the past", it is a special type of singing with the background music often being the ÃÂàn tranh zither or the ÃÂàn ghi-ta (Vietnamized guitar). In a typical cải lðáng play, the actresses and actors would use a combination of regular spoken dialogue and vá»Âng cá» to express their thoughts and emotions.
Cải lðáng normally highlights/praises traditional Vietnamese moral values. There are mainly two genres of cải lðáng: ancient stories (tuá»Âng cá»Â) and societal (xã há»Âi).
The societal genre (cải lðáng xã há»Âi) consists of stories about modern Vietnamese society. The plots deal with a romantic love story blended with family or social relationships. The stories also explore cultural norms, social norms, and other aspects of Vietnamese society, e.g. ÃÂá»Âi Cô Lá»±u, Tô ÃÂnh Nguyá»Ât. This genre can be somehow described as tragedy, but with a happy ending. However, a few societal plays such as "Ra Giêng Anh Cðá»Âi Em" are comedic and light-hearted.
In the ancient stories, the actor/actress dresses in an old fashioned costume. The plot is based on a tale, legend or historical story of the feudal system, where kings and warriors still existed. For example, Bên Cầu Dá»Ât Lụa, Lục Vân Tiên, Tiếng Trá»Âng Mê Linh etc. Many plots come from Chinese historic or ancient legends. Lðáng Sán Bá-Chúc Anh ÃÂài is based on the Chinese legend of butterfly lovers. In ancient stories, Há» Quảng, a genre of Chinese opera may be mixed. Hence, some ancient stories may be called Cải lðáng Há» Quảng, which is more like a musical. In addition to regular speech, ca cải lðáng, and vá»Âng cá»Â, several melodies are incorporated into the play. These melodies are reused through different plays, however the words are changed to fit the context of the plays. Ancient stories can be characterized by beautiful, elaborate costumes comprising beautiful and colourful dress pieces; large, beautiful glittery hairpieces; elaborate warrior armour; and elaborate warrior head pieces.