Đào Lê Na’s Đợi Kiều [Waiting for Kiều] opens with a shadow of a woman dancing against the backdrop of a waning moon while a voice-over sings.1 In this theatrical rendition inspired by Nguyễn Du’s Truyện Kiều [The Tale of Kiều], the character of Kiều remains a mere silhouette, devoid of spoken lines or identifiable features. As implied in the title, she is symbolically akin to Samuel Beckett’s Godot, always referenced but never actually revealed. Premiering at the Nhà Văn Hóa Thanh Niên [Youth Cultural Center] in Hồ Chí Minh City in September 2022,2 the performance features a solo artist, Bảo Ngọc,3 portraying four major characters of the story. Blending modern and traditional theatrical and performance modes, from cải lương [reformed theater] to múa bóng [shadow dance], Đợi Kiều offers a contemporary interpretation of the renowned Vietnamese epic poem, aligned with the sensibilities of modern society and...
Đợi Kiều: An Ecofeminist Interpretation of Truyện Kiều
Yen Vu is a faculty member in literature at Fulbright University Vietnam, where she teaches modern Vietnamese literature. Her research focuses on twentieth-century Vietnamese and French intellectual politics as well as Southeast Asian ecocriticism. She also cohosts a mainstay podcast for the Vietnam studies and Vietnamese American community called Nam Phong Dialogues, available on Spotify and Apple.
Nguyễn Hữu Yến Lê is a graduate of Fulbright University Vietnam with a Bachelor’s degree in literature. Her academic pursuits have centered on the intersection of environmental literature, history, and political ecology, with a particular emphasis on Vietnamese literary and historical contexts.
Yen N. Vu, Nguyễn Hữu Yến Lê; Đợi Kiều: An Ecofeminist Interpretation of Truyện Kiều. Journal of Vietnamese Studies 1 November 2024; 19 (3-4): 136–152. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/vs.2024.19.3-4.136
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