Hoang Phuc Dzi passed away at the age of 79: Contributed to creating the pantomime fever, devoted to the game even though he was retired

Phuc Dzi is known as a leading mime artist, contributing to the creation of a special theater genre in Vietnam. He just breathed his last on the morning of December 12, at the age of 79.

Artist Phuc Dzi (also known as Hoang Phuc Dzi) was born in 1944 and is considered one of the first artists who contributed to creating pantomime in Vietnam. For Meritorious Artist Tran Luc, Hoang Phuc Dzi is his idol. He said that in the 1970s, he saw and was fascinated by pantomime performances performed by leading mime artists.

"If I hadn't gone to Bulgaria to study, I would have followed him to study mime and maybe become talented in this field. In 2016, I invited him to teach mime to students of the K33b acting class. He accepted, but it was close to the day of class. He reported that he had a herniated disc and had to stop exercising... Class K33b did not have the same fate with teacher Phuc Dzi as I did in the past", Meritorious Artist Tran Luc regretted.

As one of the last students of artist Hoang Phuc Dzi still remaining in the pantomime genre, artist Hoang Tung emotionally remembers his respected teacher. He said that when he started working at the Youth Theater, the top mime artist had already retired. However, he still decided to stay and train young people.

Mime artist Hoang Tung revealed that since childhood, he has enjoyed watching artist Hoang Phuc Dzi perform at the Youth Theater. Later, when he returned to work at the theater, he was fortunate to have Phuc Dzi enthusiastically teach mime.

While specializing in this subject, Hoang Tung was also followed and supported by artist Hoang Phuc Dzi with a lot of knowledge and skills... And he often called the male artist "uncle".

"I see that you are very happy to have a generation to continue your profession. Wherever you have a video of your performance, send it to me. Every time I meet you, I take the opportunity to ask about Vietnamese pantomime during the period you worked on. You are the "living witness" to pantomime in Vietnam. The last time we met, I half-jokingly said, "Do you have any documents that you can pass on to me?" and he passed me a few books... ", artist Hoang Tung shared.

Hoang Tung added that in real life, artist Hoang Phuc Dzi is a gentle, quiet person. Especially when teaching students, the male artist always gently corrects him and does not "punch too hard", so his students are very respectful.

Director Si Tien shared that Mr. Phuc Dzi is a talented person and extremely passionate about mime. The male director expressed his respect to his senior: "Watching him perform is extremely interesting and unique. He not only performs but is also a dedicated teacher who has trained many generations of mime artists at the Age Theater." Young. He diligently devoted himself and worked at our theater until the day he retired."

Responding to Tuoi Tre newspaper, director Giang Manh Ha - vice president of the Vietnam Theater Artists Association, said that in the 1980s, Mr. Phuc Dzi was sent to train in France in mime. At that time, pantomime was very popular in Europe and America.

"After returning home from graduation, he was one of the first people to build and create a new type of drama in Vietnam, which is pantomime. Many young people love it and compete to study because it is interesting and fun. is a subject of physical flexibility," Mr. Giang Manh Ha emphasized.

It is known that artist Hoang Phuc Dzi worked at the Youth Theater from 1982-2004. The Youth Theater is the first unit in Vietnam to organize a basic training class on mime. At that time, pantomime had just appeared in Vietnam, so it operated on a modest scale.

The Central Theater of Music and Dance was the first place to pursue pantomime, then it was the turn of the Youth Theater. At that time, drama actor Phuc Dzi was selected by the Ministry of Culture and sent to France to study for 3 years with the hope of "picking up" this potential theater subject.

After the course, artist Phuc Dzĩ returned to be the main instructor of the intermediate mime class opened by the Youth Theater in 1982. From more than 1,000 initial candidates, the 20 most potential faces were admitted to training course 3. years, including: Ke Doan, Bich Ngoc, Tuyet Hau, Phuong Phuong,... are also the main faces creating the appearance of Vietnamese pantomime in the following years. Even before going to the Soviet Union to study directing, People's Artist Le Hung had a long time of "fame" as a theater pantomime actor.

The mime artists of the Youth Theater are always the most prominent faces. This theater's pantomime "The Leper Poet" also won the Gold Medal at the 1995 National Theater Festival. In the international field, the performance "Mask" staged by artist Phuc Dzi also participated in a international theater festival in Iran and loved by the audience.

He and artists such as Ke Doan, Dang Dung, Bich Ngoc... are considered those who contributed to the creation of pantomime and are excellent pantomime performers in Vietnam.

Artist Phuc Dzi once affirmed: "Mime will never die because the history of pantomime is a sinusoidal graph, with ups and downs and depends on circumstances. In those circumstances, when outstanding people appear, then the drama Pantomime flourished. Pantomime was created by humans, and as long as humans are alive, pantomime will still exist."

Up to now, the passing of Hoang Phuc Dzi can be said to be a great loss for Vietnamese arts in general and mime in particular. The funeral of Vietnam's leading mime artist will be held from 7:30 a.m. on December 15 at Huu Nghi Hospital Funeral Home (1B Tran Khanh Du, Hai Ba Trung, Hanoi). The memorial service took place at 9am the same day.