Announcement regarding the organisation of the Vietnamese Theatre Week in France

Dear audience members, artists, sponsors, partners and friends who have accompanied this programme,

For reasons beyond our control, the Organising Committee has decided to postpone the Vietnamese Theatre Week in France and to hold the event at a more suitable time. Detailed information regarding the date and programme will be announced to you by the Organising Committee.

The Organising Committee sincerely thanks you for the interest, trust and support you have shown since the very first days of building this programme. Your affection for Vietnamese culture and the arts is what motivates us to continue pursuing our wish to introduce the unique values of our national culture to the French public and friends around the world.

We hope to continue receiving your support and to have the opportunity to share meaningful artistic experiences with you in Paris.

With sincere thanks and best regards.

The Organising Committee of the Vietnamese Theatre Week in France

Programme of the Vietnamese Theatre Week in France

24–25/10 Water Puppetry 26/10 Spoken Drama The Soul of Trương Ba, in the Butcher’s Skin 27/10 Contemporary Opera Legends of Vietnam 28/10 From Heritage to Contemporary Special Evening 29/10 Spoken Drama The Soul of Trương Ba, in the Butcher’s Skin 30/10 From Heritage to Contemporary Special Evening 31/10 Special Event Franco-Vietnamese Encounter

24–25 October 2026

Water Puppetry

Water becomes stage

Venue A central square in Paris

In Paris, French audiences will discover water puppetry through a selection of emblematic scenes and popular games. On the surface of the water, the rhythms of Vietnamese village life come alive: rice farming, fishing, festivals, mythical creatures and bursts of laughter.

Far more than a technical demonstration, the programme restores the spirit of the traditional water pavilion — a place where the community gathers and everyday life becomes poetry.

Creative Team

Director: Nguyễn Tiến Dũng

Cast / Performers

Artists of the Vietnam Water Puppet Theatre

26 October 2026, 8:00 pm (Opening night)

The Soul of Trương Ba, in the Butcher’s Skin

Spoken Drama

Venue Théâtre Marigny, Carré Marigny, 75008 Paris

In Lưu Quang Vũ’s masterpiece, the soul of the gardener Trương Ba is mistakenly placed into the body of a butcher. A painful struggle then begins between appearance and identity, between the desires of the body and the demands of the soul. Under the direction of French director Anne Bouvier, the play was created together with the artists of the Vietnam Youth Theatre — a genuine creative collaboration, not simply a ready-made production brought abroad.

Creative Team

Author: Lưu Quang Vũ
Director: Anne Bouvier
Artistic Collaboration: Joris Donnadieu
Script Adaptation: Nguyễn Mỹ Linh
Set Designer: Đỗ Doãn Bằng
Composer: Lưu Quang Minh
Assistant Director: Đào Duy Anh
Lighting Design: Lương Khải Hưng, Nguyễn Xuân Vũ, Nguyễn Hoài Anh
Choreographer: Nguyễn Vũ Khánh
Costumes: Cao Tùng
Artist: Đỗ Đăng Khoa
Images: Hoàng Duy Đông
Stage Manager: Bùi Hồng Quế
On-site Assistant and Interpreter: Võ Trung Dung, Vũ Gia Bảo
And the whole team of Vietnam Youth Theatre

Cast / Performers

Vietnam Youth Theatre

Nguyễn Anh Tú: Trương Ba / The Butcher
Lương Thu Trang: Trương Ba's Wife
Bảo Thanh: The Butcher's Wife
Nguyễn Thanh Sơn: Trương Ba's Son
Nguyễn Thanh Bình: The Spirit Đế Thích
Nguyễn Thu Quỳnh: Trương Ba's Daughter-in-law
Lê Bá Anh: Hamlet Chief Hoạt
Lý Chí Huy: Bắc Đẩu
Vũ Trọng Minh: Nam Tào
Đỗ Thảo Hương: Little Gái
Lê Anh Quân: Little Tị
Phạm Quỳnh Dương: The Village Chief
Phan Quang Thắng: Pig Trader 1
Hoàng Thanh Dương: Pig Trader 2
Lại Huy Hoàng: District Guard

27 October 2026

Legends of Vietnam

Contemporary Opera

Franco-Vietnamese creation, when French artists tell a Vietnamese story

Venue Théâtre Marigny, Carré Marigny, 75008 Paris

The Golden Dragon & The Fisherman at the Bottom of the Tea Cup.

A testament to the beauty of Franco-Vietnamese creative collaboration: two famous Vietnamese legends have been adapted into contemporary opera.

French artists step into the Vietnamese world and retell it through their own sensibility, language and stagecraft. The legend changes its breath as it crosses into another culture, yet keeps its emotional core.

This is one of the week’s great beauties: a literary heritage need not stay confined within the borders where it was born, but can become a shared space where artists and audiences of both countries meet.

Creative Team

Music: Benjamin Attahir
Libretto, Direction and Set Design: Olivier Dhénin Hữu
Piano and Music Direction: Emmanuel Christien
Lighting: Anne Terrasse
Costumes: Hélène Vergnes
Scenic Painting & Curtains: Lê Phi Long
Puppets: Nguyên Thị Kim Thuy
Artistic Direction: Victor Willams
Lighting Direction: Héloïse Fizet
Costume Design: Trần Phi Anh
Assistant Director: Mathéo Iachvili
Artistic Coordination: Thibaut Lunet

Cast / Performers

Winterreise Compagnie Théâtre

Laurent Deleuil: Baritone
Aimery Lefèvre: Baritone
Léa Bao Ngoc Badillo: Mezzo-soprano
Mali Zivkovic: Tenor
Camille Gimenez-Lavaud: Mezzo-soprano
Masayo Tago: Soprano

28 October 2026

Special Evening

From Heritage to Contemporary

Marking 50 years of Vietnam-UNESCO cooperation

Venue Le Grand Rex, 75002 Paris

A journey through Vietnamese performing arts, from contemporary dance to the great traditions of tuồng, chèo and cải lương: Vietnamese identity remains an enduring source of inspiration for creation.

Dó, a contemporary ballet set to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, opens the evening with a choreographic language that is both rooted and resolutely contemporary. It is followed by heritage excerpts — the chèo clown scene from Lưu Bình-Dương Lễ, Sơn Hậu, Câu thơ yên ngựa and Cô đào hát — bringing together three memories and three aesthetics of traditional Vietnamese theatre.

The evening returns to meet Paris audiences again on 30 October, at Carreau du Temple.

Creative Team

Director: Hà Nguyên Long
Director: Trần Hương Na
Choreographer, Co-author of the Contemporary Dance “Dó”: NSƯT Phan Long
Choreographer, Co-author of the Contemporary Dance “Dó”: Vũ Ngọc Khải
Artistic Advisor: Nguyễn Tuấn Cường

Cast / Performers

Contemporary Ballet - Dó
Vietnam Opera and Ballet Theatre
Phạm Thu Hằng, Nguyễn Đức Hiếu, Bùi Việt An, Hà Tú Thiên, Lê Phương Thảo, Trần Linh Ngân, Đinh Thị Trà My, Nguyễn Ngọc Lan Nhi, Phạm Khánh Băng, Nguyễn Thị Hà My, Trần Lê Thanh, Bùi Diễm Quỳnh, Ngô Hạnh Dương, Vũ Dương Đức, Đào Anh Tú, Trần Huy

Tuồng
Đà Nẵng Traditional Arts Theatre – Nguyễn Hiển Dĩnh Tuồng Troupe
"Ôn Đình chém Tá" (Excerpt from "Tuồng Sơn Hậu")
Nguyễn Thị Bích Phượng, Hà Hữu Hùng, Nguyễn Tấn Đông, Phan Văn Quang, Nguyễn Ninh, Phạm Thanh Tỵ, Trần Ngọc Tuấn, Phạm Hồng Hà, Thái Văn Nga, Nguyễn Thị Hương

Chèo
Vietnam National Traditional Performing Arts Theatre
Excerpt from "Lưu Bình Dương Lễ" (classical chèo)
Vũ Bá Dũng, Trần Xuân Tài, Hà Thị Thảo, Bá Thùy Linh, Trần Duy Toàn, Lại Xuân Chường, Vũ Trọng Khánh, Phạm Thùy Chi, Nguyễn Tuấn Anh, Nguyễn Duy Hoà, Nguyễn Xuân Thành

Cải lương
Trần Hữu Trang Cải Lương Theatre
"Câu thơ yên ngựa"
Lê Tú Sương, Nguyễn Điền Trung, Lê Thanh Thảo
"Cô đào hát"
Nguyễn Ngọc Quế Trân, Võ Minh Lâm
Lưu Quốc Cường, Quốc Đại, Minh Tâm

29 October 2026, 8:00 pm

The Soul of Trương Ba, in the Butcher’s Skin

Spoken Drama

Back on stage

Venue Carreau du Temple, 3 rue Eugène Spuller, 75003 Paris

After the opening night, The Soul of Trương Ba, in the Butcher’s Skin continues its dialogue with the Paris audience at Carreau du Temple.

A second performance to deepen the encounter between a major work of Vietnamese theatre and the French public.

Presented in a new venue, the programme will take on a different breath, inviting the public to a fresh perspective on the vitality, diversity and the ever-renewing capacity of Vietnamese theatre.

Creative Team

Author: Lưu Quang Vũ
Director: Anne Bouvier
Artistic Collaboration: Joris Donnadieu
Script Adaptation: Nguyễn Mỹ Linh
Set Designer: Đỗ Doãn Bằng
Composer: Lưu Quang Minh
Assistant Director: Đào Duy Anh
Lighting Design: Lương Khải Hưng, Nguyễn Xuân Vũ, Nguyễn Hoài Anh
Choreographer: Nguyễn Vũ Khánh
Costumes: Cao Tùng
Artist: Đỗ Đăng Khoa
Images: Hoàng Duy Đông
Stage Manager: Bùi Hồng Quế
On-site Assistant and Interpreter: Võ Trung Dung, Vũ Gia Bảo
And the whole team of Vietnam Youth Theatre

Cast / Performers

Vietnam Youth Theatre

Nguyễn Anh Tú: Trương Ba / The Butcher
Lương Thu Trang: Trương Ba's Wife
Bảo Thanh: The Butcher's Wife
Nguyễn Thanh Sơn: Trương Ba's Son
Nguyễn Thanh Bình: The Spirit Đế Thích
Nguyễn Thu Quỳnh: Trương Ba's Daughter-in-law
Lê Bá Anh: Hamlet Chief Hoạt
Lý Chí Huy: Bắc Đẩu
Vũ Trọng Minh: Nam Tào
Đỗ Thảo Hương: Little Gái
Lê Anh Quân: Little Tị
Phạm Quỳnh Dương: The Village Chief
Phan Quang Thắng: Pig Trader 1
Hoàng Thanh Dương: Pig Trader 2
Lại Huy Hoàng: District Guard

30 October 2026

Special Evening

From Heritage to Contemporary

Back on stage

Venue Carreau du Temple, 3 rue Eugène Spuller, 75003 Paris

The special Vietnamese arts evening returns to meet the audience again: contemporary dance, tuồng, chèo and cải lương interwoven between heritage and creation.

Creative Team

Director: Hà Nguyên Long
Director: Trần Hương Na
Choreographer, Co-author of the Contemporary Dance “Dó”: NSƯT Phan Long
Choreographer, Co-author of the Contemporary Dance “Dó”: Vũ Ngọc Khải
Artistic Advisor: Nguyễn Tuấn Cường

Cast / Performers

Contemporary Ballet - Dó
Vietnam Opera and Ballet Theatre
Phạm Thu Hằng, Nguyễn Đức Hiếu, Bùi Việt An, Hà Tú Thiên, Lê Phương Thảo, Trần Linh Ngân, Đinh Thị Trà My, Nguyễn Ngọc Lan Nhi, Phạm Khánh Băng, Nguyễn Thị Hà My, Trần Lê Thanh, Bùi Diễm Quỳnh, Ngô Hạnh Dương, Vũ Dương Đức, Đào Anh Tú, Trần Huy

Tuồng
Đà Nẵng Traditional Arts Theatre – Nguyễn Hiển Dĩnh Tuồng Troupe
"Ôn Đình chém Tá" (Excerpt from "Tuồng Sơn Hậu")
Nguyễn Thị Bích Phượng, Hà Hữu Hùng, Nguyễn Tấn Đông, Phan Văn Quang, Nguyễn Ninh, Phạm Thanh Tỵ, Trần Ngọc Tuấn, Phạm Hồng Hà, Thái Văn Nga, Nguyễn Thị Hương

Chèo
Vietnam National Traditional Performing Arts Theatre
Excerpt from "Lưu Bình Dương Lễ" (classical chèo)
Vũ Bá Dũng, Trần Xuân Tài, Hà Thị Thảo, Bá Thùy Linh, Trần Duy Toàn, Lại Xuân Chường, Vũ Trọng Khánh, Phạm Thùy Chi, Nguyễn Tuấn Anh, Nguyễn Duy Hoà, Nguyễn Xuân Thành

Cải lương
Trần Hữu Trang Cải Lương Theatre
"Câu thơ yên ngựa"
Lê Tú Sương, Nguyễn Điền Trung, Lê Thanh Thảo
"Cô đào hát"
Nguyễn Ngọc Quế Trân, Võ Minh Lâm
Lưu Quốc Cường, Quốc Đại, Minh Tâm

31 October 2026

Franco-Vietnamese Encounter

Special Event

Venue Centre Culturel du Việt Nam en France

A celebration with the artists and the public

To close the week, Vietnamese artists and the public come together for a warm evening, open to conversation and sharing.

Film music, stage songs, memories of past performances and conversations create a celebration with no distance between the audience and the artists. One final gathering to extend the emotions, hear the voices behind the roles, and celebrate the bonds formed throughout the week.