After three years of being staged in other countries, where the Vietnamese circus play “Lang toi” (My village) earned notable critical acclaim and applause, it was taken home in late 2012 only to receive an insipid welcome from the audiences in its home country.

Before their contracts ended, starting in mid 2012, artists Nguyen Lan and Nguyen Nhat Ly from France and artist Tuan Le from Germany hurried to seek new partnership.

Recently, Do Ngoc Minh, an entrepreneur with well-known trademarks such as LUALA Concert, Soi.com.vn, agreed to pump hundreds of million dong for a performance of the “Lang Toi” circus play in Vietnam in April, 2013, along with a promise of another show in HCMC. However, the sponsor postponed the show due to a lack of a fixed venue and financial difficulties. This was a devastating blow to the actors.

The “Lang Toi” circus play had a hard time in its homeland from the start, with only six performances held in Hanoi in 2005 before it was ‘shelved’ for the following four years. Fortunately, in 2009, the circus play was taken to France as an attempt to create a reputation for a Vietnamese art. And it instantly clicked there.

People's Artist Vu Ngoan Hop, Vietnam Circus Federation director is set on staging the play in its home country despite all obstacles. He added that the play will be performed for two nights at the Au Co Cultural Center Art in Hanoi to officially hand over all the props to the Circus Federation. The Federation will then consider signing the contract to stage the play periodically at the Au Co Cultural Center.

“No venue and costs for each performance are the major obstacles. With the only funding from the Circus Federation, we will fall short of funding after a few performances. So we are trying to seek other sources of finance, possibly from the National  Tourism Administration. Up to this point, we have not found partners, while we haven’t inked the contracts with the tour operators to stage the play for tourists. So I figure we’ll just have to work and seek a way at the same time,” said Hop.