A Vietnamese circus play, which has been enthusiastically raved about by Vietnamese and foreign audiences, will be staged in France and some other European countries during the next three years, starting this June.

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Representatives of Lune Entertainment, a Vietnamese company, and France’s Scène nationale de Sénart Theater announced in a press meeting on Monday that the Vietnamese circus play, “À Ố Show,” will commence its three-year performing tour across France and in some other European countries on June 14. 

The two sides had signed an agreement which is the first-ever cooperation between an entertainment company in Ho Chi Minh City and a foreign partner in jointly organizing a performing tour.

The critically acclaimed play adopts the language of circus and theater to depict Vietnam’s idyllic pastoral life, as well as traditional customs and folk games.

Bamboos and basket boats, which are everyday items in rural Vietnam, are dominantly featured throughout the 60-minute play.

“À Ố Show,” which has no script, climax or sequence, gently guides audiences through a wide spectrum of emotions.

Under the agreement, the play will be staged at 60 reputable theaters in Europe during the three years.

Twenty-five people including the authors, cast, musicians, and technicians will go on performing tours which last between four and six months each year.

To start with, 90 performances of the show will be put on at 26 theaters in France and one in Greece from June 2015 to June 2016.

Jean-Michel Puiffe, director of the Scène nationale de Sénart Theater, said at the Monday press meeting that “À Ố Show” will capture much of European audiences’ attention, judged on his 30-year experience in selecting works to be staged at theaters across Europe.

Though the show does not boast bestselling formulae or world-leading performing techniques and technology, its appeal lies mostly in the genuine emotions and memory flashbacks that it arouses among the audiences, he noted.

“À Ố Show,” which debuted in early 2013, is one of the purely Vietnamese art programs which most foreign tourists choose to enjoy during their stay in Vietnam.

Around 400 performances of the show have been given so far at the Municipal Theater in Ho Chi Minh City to the eagerly attentive tourists from over 70 countries.

According to Vo Thanh Trung, production director of “À Ố Show,” the play incurred a VND5 billion (US$233,013) loss in its first year and did not fare better until late last year.

“It’s a risky move to stage the show abroad, as even if the performing trips are fruitful, the profits they yield will be smaller than those gained from performances at home. If the trips are a failure, the losses would be huge,” Trung noted.

The suspension of the show in certain months in the next three years will deprive foreign tourists of a worthwhile entertainment choice to indulge in during their visits to the country.

Trung said his production team is considering selecting another group of artists as replacements in a version to continue to be put on at home.

He added that directors of some theaters in the U.K., Spain, and Canada have extended their invitations for “À Ố Show” to be staged at their theaters this year and next year.

Trung said he would consider the invitations for next year and the year after next as the team’s 2015-2016 performing schedule is already full.

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