Physical theatre introduced to Vietnam by the David Glass Ensemble

Although Vietnam has a tradition of mime, physical theatre which incorporates, mime, dance and theatre in non-verbal performances was new to Vietnam in 1998.  That year we brought the David Glass Ensemble to Vietnam to stage the first part of their Lost Child Trilogy, The Hansel and Gretel Machine (based on the Brother’s Grimm fairytale) at the Youth Theatre in Hanoi. The trilogy is all about raising awareness of lost children around the world be they lost through war, abandonment, sickness, violence or poverty. Together with a troupe of UK actors the Ensemble used local children from the Nhan Chinh Deaf school to act in the performance which received excellent reviews from audiences.  People were impressed by the emotional power of the piece and its use of metaphor to raise issues about how we need to look after all children in the world. The visit was so successful that we brought the Ensemble back in 1999 to complete the trilogy at the Youth Theatre.

The David Glass Ensemble continues to be active in Vietnam to this day, working on our new arts in development project and training our staff on creative approaches to our work. In 2001 David Glass also designed and delivered an innovative training course called Prepare UK for Chevening scholars to help them prepare for culture shock during their one year of UK study. It has been run every year since.  

Did  you know?

Two of the deaf children, involved in the Lost Child Trilogy performances, Dam Thuy Linh and Dam Thuy Phuong, are now members of the TogetherHigher contemporary dance troupe supported by the British Council. They are identical twins.

Also in 1998

The Millennium Book project started with the British Council making donations of 20th Century literature classics to 80 education organisations in Vietnam

Mid-term review of the World Bank funded Education Publishing House capacity building project with training and consultancy inputs managed by the British Council

Three new higher education links set up between Oxford University and the Ho Chi Minh City Open University, the University of Wales and the Vietnam Shrimp Research Institute, and the David Owen Population Centre and the National Economics University.

Did you know?

Over the last 10 years we have donated over 150,000 books to organisations in Vietnam

Did you know?

Although Assistant Director, Paul Zetter, had a bad road accident in Hanoi in 1998 he went on to become the longest serving member of UK staff, with 5 years service in Vietnam.