(Photo: nhahattuoitre.vn)

“Faraway shore” is a story about the relations between the couple Tung and Thuy and their classmate Trung. The couple have a beautiful love and also have a son named Quang. They experience a standard marriage life until Thuy meets Phuong, the girl friend of her son Quang. Phuong has inspired Thuy about a modern and liberal life. And Trung appears. And Thuy’s family life falls into tragedy. Artist Si Tien plays a role of Tung: “Stories about family conflicts change in different times. In the subsidy period, family life was closely attached to the issues of material life, but now it exists in different forms. But the family life in the past and present are generally influenced by money or dogma”.

The play “Faraway shore” on the stage of the Youth Theatre is performed in Vietnamese and South Korean by two artist troupes. In the version arranged by the Youth Theatre, after the unsuccessful attempt to leave her family and follow the call of love with Trung, Thuy kills herself to present a lonely life. But in another version directed by Lee Eun Son, who also plays the role of Thuy, the woman leaves her family to visit a faraway place and seek a new life. The play also deeply touches the audience’s hearts with its moving music: “The model of women who accept their faith resignedly is also popular in South Korea. They all have a family but one day, they want to find their egos. So, people easily sympathize with Thuy’s situation. Though the play has two versions, they have many similarities”.

Character Phuong is the one to create a turning-point in the play. Artist Thu Quynh plays the character Phuong: “Phuong is a modern girl and represents youth. Phuong comes and creates a ideological revolution for other characters. The role of Phuong was played 20 years ago by artist Lan Huong. I try to make changes to keep up to date in modern times”.

The simple stage with few props is a great challenge for the characters. Watching the play, the audience ask themselves why people still feel unhappy despite a prosperous life. People’s Artist Le Khanh played the role of Thuy in the versions in 1996 and 2017: “I want to popularize this play to all families. People often say family is a cell of the society. The play is suitable for audiences of different ages. Each will find herself or himself in each character”.