Introduction

Tuồng (also calledHát bội) is a formof traditional theater that was widespread incentral and southern Vietnam from the eighteenthcentury onward, reaching the height of itspopularity in the nineteenth century. It began todecline in popularity in the early twentiethcentury, partly owing to the appearance of Cải lương (Reformed theater)in the 1920s and, later, the introduction of otherforms of entertainment such as popular music andcinema. From a comparative perspective, Tuồng is a subgenre withintraditional East Asian drama along with traditionalChinese dramatic genres such as Yueju 粵劇 (Cantonese Opera) and Chaoju 潮劇 (Chaozhou Opera)as well as Japanese Noh 能 (Noh theater). The scripts ofclassic Tuồng arewritten in (chữ)Nôm (𡨸) 喃, thelogographic writing system of the Vietnameselanguage, which dates back to the fourteenth centuryat the latest and was used until the early twentiethcentury. Some of the themes in Tuồng plays are of indigenous origin andinvolve the transformation of local sources such asfolktales and legends of the supernatural, but otherplays display foreign literary influences from Mingand Qing historical fiction, Chinese scholar-beautyromance novels, French novels, as well as Chineseand Indian religious (mainly Buddhist) tales.

Tuồng, like many othertypes of traditional theatrical performance in theworld, arose in the context of religiousrituals.