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Through its conventional theatrical form – a departure from the rigid norms of traditional theater – "The Doll" offers audiences a groundbreaking blend of light, music, dance, and drama.
With its profound script, talented cast, and meticulously crafted stage design featuring sound and lighting, "The Doll" is considered the brainchild of veteran director and actor Tran Luc, delivering many profound messages to contemporary theater enthusiasts in general and young people in Hanoi in particular.
The play "The Doll" offers a thought-provoking perspective on how artificial intelligence breaks down the boundaries between reality and the virtual world to infiltrate the human realm.
Founded in 2017, the Lucteam theater troupe, led by director and Meritorious Artist Tran Luc, offers audiences a fresh and unique art form: conventional-expressionist theater. With the motto "Contemporary breath in the essence of the East," Lucteam's artistic works combine contemporary Western theatrical language with traditional Vietnamese theater, distinctly different from current Vietnamese theater.
“I struggled when choosing this new path. Because with the power of modern entertainment media, audiences are provided with so much information and images that they no longer need to imagine. There is only one thing that theater can offer audiences that modern entertainment technology cannot: stimulating their imagination,” said director and screenwriter Tran Luc.
Director and screenwriter Tran Luc
In late 2022 and early 2023, the emergence of artificial intelligence software like Chat GPT and Midjourney, with their exceptional information creation, research, and synthesis skills, caused a global sensation. Once again, sociologists raised the question: What will the post-AI (Artificial Intelligence) world look like? And will human society tolerate or fear these superintelligent beings capable of exceeding our control?
The play "The Doll" offers a thought-provoking perspective on how artificial intelligence blurs the lines between reality and illusion to infiltrate the human world. In this chaotic context, what is real, what is virtual, what is genuine, and what is artificial?
From a naive young girl from the countryside who comes to the city, to a wealthy Vietnamese-American businessman, a calculating matchmaker, and a mysterious young man. Four characters with four distinct personalities, seemingly unrelated, yet they become entangled in a bizarre, tragicomic story that challenges conventional norms.
The play is performed in the form of conventional drama, expressing
Over an hour into the performance, director Tran Luc and the Lucteam crew presented viewers with an allegorical story about modern society, where people, for some reason, are forced to live behind a facade of falsehood, and artificial intelligence reigns supreme.
For the first time, the collaboration of two strong-willed directors and screenwriters, Le Hoang and Tran Luc, has created an extremely captivating contemporary art production titled "Doll." It's a visually stunning performance that satisfies all the senses with its sound, lighting, physical choreography, and stage design, all in a distinctly contemporary style.
“Artists must constantly adapt to keep up with the audience. We must show the audience that theatrical art has its own unique appeal, and that only it possesses it. The most important thing is to attract the audience,” director Tran Luc shared.
Adapting to keep up with the audience, this spirit of enthusiasm and progress has become the guiding principle for Lucteam's development. Choosing to pursue conventional theater, which is "niche" and still unfamiliar to the public, not only director Tran Luc but also the young actors have had to strive their hardest to deliver outstanding performances, gradually winning over not only discerning audiences but also younger generations who are overwhelmed by countless forms of modern entertainment.
Through the form of conventional drama – an expression that differs from the rigid norms of traditional theatrical forms.
Focusing intensely on the physical form, movement, and choreography of the actors, perfectly interacting with sound and lighting elements designed in a contemporary, sharp, abstract, and mesmerizing artistic style, the conventional theatrical genre breaks away from the traditional frameworks of the old stage, breathing a powerful, modern, free, and individualistic spirit into the soul of Eastern theatrical culture.
The conventional theatrical stages—Tran Luc's expression—are like an Eastern brocade robe combined with edgy, futuristic ornaments, turning the contrast into a binding force that draws the younger generation to the traditional arts of their country.
Lucteam's play "The Doll" will continue to be performed at Hong Ha Theater, 51A Duong Thanh Street, Cua Dong Ward, Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi on October 28, 2023.
