Reading Circle: Vũ Đình Long’s Letter to Đặng Thai Mai
02:30 PM – 05 PM, Sun 06 Sep 2026
Vũ Dân Tân Museum
443 Ngọc Thuỵ, Hà Nội
Registration link (Limited to 20 participants)
From the organizer:
“Unable to write, I turned again to translation and Vietnamization. Having found a play by Chekhov published by Editions en langues étrangères, Moscow, 1947, I Vietnamized it into Cậu Vân, and later revised it into the translation Cậu Va-ni-a.”
– Excerpt from Vũ Đình Long’s letter to Đặng Thai Mai, 1957
Vũ Đình Long (1896–1960), a pioneer of modern Vietnamese spoken theatre, translated and adapted numerous foreign plays to suit the Vietnamese context — a process he himself referred to as Vietnamization. These Vietnamized works became foundational to the development of a distinctly Vietnamese form of spoken theatre in its early years.
As part of the interdisciplinary programme From Manuscript to Stage: Celebrating the Vu Dinh Long Archive and Legacy, the Vũ Dân Tân Museum invites the public to join a reading and discussion of Vũ Đình Long’s letter to Đặng Thai Mai. The programme will be led by theatre director Duy Vũ.
The programme is organized by the Vu Dan Tan Museum, with support from Goethe-Institut Hanoi.
Language: English and Vietnamese. The letter reading and script reading activities will be conducted entirely in Vietnamese.
Programme
– Introduction to the Vũ Đình Long Room
– Reading of Vũ Đình Long’s letter to Đặng Thai Mai, accompanied by stories and historical context from early 20th-century Vietnam
– Discussion of several works Vietnamized by Vũ Đình Long, followed by a collective reading exercise exploring selected excerpts from the scripts
About the moderator
Duy Vũ is a theatre and film director and screenwriter working across theatre and cinema. His practice explores the surreal sensibilities of modern life and the uncanny repetitions that emerge within everyday existence.
Duy is the founder of Xí Nghiệp Điện Ảnh Thăng Long, a community of film and theatre actors and directors engaged in both practical and theoretical approaches to the performing arts. He is also the artistic director of Sân khấu vô hình, a quarterly independent theatre programme and the independent theatre platform of its kind in Hanoi, creating a space for young artists and bringing new stage productions to audiences passionate about theatre.
Note
– The event is free of charge and non-profit, and is held for educational and research purposes.
– The event will take place on the first floor. If you would like to visit the museum and the Vu Dinh Long Room, please purchase an admission ticket at the ticket counter.
– The programme will be documented through photography and audio recording. By registering for the programme, participants consent to the Organizers and speakers using the resulting documentation for archival, research, and communication purposes.
Follow updates on event’s page.
