Theatre
London is the theatre capital of the world with more shows and bigger audiences than anywhere else including Broadway. There are 51 West End theatres which currently draw about 12 million theatre-goers a year.
The National Theatre and Royal Shakespeare Company are among the most famous theatre companies but there are a great many exciting smaller ones. Among them are Frantic Assembly and Station House Opera which blur the boundaries between theatre, dance and performance art.
New writers are currently in abundance producing sharp, funny and often harrowing plays. They include Mark Ravenhill, Philip Ridley, Rebecca Pritchard and Ayub Khan Din. British theatre directors such as Sam Mendes are breaking into Hollywood, and American film stars such as Gwyneth Paltrow and Madonna are working in British theatre.
Across the UK, the dramatic arts are taught and encouraged in schools, and many thousands of adults take part in amateur dramatic productions. British drama schools for further and higher education students have an international reputation.
Dance
British choreographers and dancers continually challenge and innovate. Renowned companies such as the Royal Ballet and English National Ballet present classical dance of the highest quality, while Matthew Bourne's productions for Adventures in Motion Pictures combine the stories of classical ballets, the energy of West End musicals and the drama of Hollywood films. Rambert Dance Company, the UK's oldest ballet troupe, offers a diverse repertoire of highly creative contemporary works, while CandoCo astonishes with the brilliance of its mixed troupe of able-bodied and disabled dancers.
A number of highly respected choreographers, including Rosemary Butcher and Siobhan Davies, present work with a simple design and no obvious narrative or musical accompaniment. Audiences are involved in pure form and movement. Cultural crossovers in dance are also common, as exemplified by Shobana Jeyasingh in her fusion of South East Asian bharata natyam and western contemporary dance, or Adzido with their vibrant mix of African dance and song.
British dance schools have a high reputation, including the Royal Ballet School, Central School of Ballet, the Northern School of Contemporary Dance in Leeds and the London Contemporary Dance School. All government-funded dance companies also provide dance workshops and education activities.
British theatre in VietnamIn 2001, the British Council Vietnam started its involvement in theatre with a ‘Theatre for Development’ version of Romeo and Juliet done by British theatre director Roger Chamberlain together with directors, actors and students from the College of Film and Drama in Ho Chi Minh City.
In 2006, we took part in the Hue Festival with a physical theatre performance entitled ‘Life Point’ by British artist Matilda Leyser which help to reflect the dynamic multiculturalism of Britain today.
British Dance in Vietnam
The British Council has invited British dance company Fin Walker and Ben Park to Vietnam to conduct a contemporary dance workshop. We also arranges other events such as dance talks, seminars & workshops, dance video & film screenings, etc.
The British Council in Vietnam has been actively supporting the development of contemporary dance in Vietnam for the past two years with study trips to the UK for Vietnamese leading practitioners, the workshops of Fin and Ben and small scale performances by local dancers who have been inspired by what they have seen and done
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