Duyet Thi Duong Theater – Hue Royal Theater

Introduction

Duyet Thi Duong Theater, one of the earliest theaters in Vietnam, has attracted a large number of home and foreign visitors. As a part of the Hue Imperial Citadel Complex, this royal theater has contributed to the valuable heritage of Hue.

Hue Ancient Capital retains many precious long-standing cultural features and traditions. It still preserves not only tangible values like ancient buildings and heritage sites but also intangible ones like attractive folk melodies and charming royal court music.

If you are keen on both ancient royal architecture and court music, Duyet Thi Duong Theater is the perfect place for you. With its elegant royal construction and traditional court music, Duyet Thi Duong royal theater will impress you! Let’s explore this special attraction with Vietnam Vacation Travel

To save time, you should combine visiting Hue Royal Theater with other famous attractions such as Hue Royal Tombs, Thien Mu Pagoda, Dong Ba Market, etc, you should book our Hue tours

• Hue Imperial City Walking Tour– 19 USD/ person.
• Hue City Tour Half Day– 31 USD/ person.
• Hue Royal Tombs Tour– 65 USD/ person.
• Hue Street food tour– 25 USD/ person.
• Hue City Private Tour– from 47 USD/ pax.
• Sunset on Tam Giang Lagoon tour– from 23 USD/ person.

After a lovely stay in Hue, you may need our Hue private car to other destinations in central Vietnam such as

• Hue to Hoi An private car– 1,500,000 VND/ Sedan car.
• Hue to Da Nang private car– 1,400,000 VND/ Sedan car.
• Hue to Phong Nha private car– 2,200,000 VND/ Sedan car.
• Hue to Dong Hoi private car– 1,900,000 VND/ Sedan car.

Duyet Thi Duong Theater Location

Address: Doan Thi Diem Street, Phu Hau Ward, Hue City

Duyet Thi Duong Theater is located in the Forbidden City of Hue Monuments Complex. It is in the east of Quang Minh Palace and close to many royal constructions, such as Ngu Thien Royal Kitchen or Thai Y Vien Medicine Institution.

Duyet Thi Duong Theater and these places create a complex that caters to the daily needs of the royal family.

How To Visit Duyet Thi Duong Theater?

Duyet Thi Duong Theater is a Hue famous attraction with an easily accessible location. So there are many ways for you to get there.

Yet visitors usually combine their trip to Duyet Thi Duong with other places such as Hue royal tombs, Thien Mu Pagoda, and Hue Imperial Citadel Complex. So they tend to prefer tours that can take them to many sites in Hue.

Vietnam Vacation Travel provides various tours of different durations with excellent tour guides. By touring with us, you can learn more about Hue culture, traditions, customs, cuisines, and more!

Hue Royal Theater History

Duyet Thi Duong Theater was constructed in 1826, under the reign of Minh Mang Emperor. Back then, this royal theater was an exclusive place for the Emperor, the royal family, high-ranking servants, and royally distinguished guests. Here, they enjoyed performances of different art forms, mainly royal classical dramas called Tuong.

Apart from the main function, the royal theater was used for special events such as the 40-year-old birthdays of Emperors. Remarkably, in 1833, the Nguyen Dynasty held a cast coinage event called “Minh Mang phi long” in the Hue Royal Theater.

Its first restoration was in 1829. Since then, it has been restored many times, but there have been no big changes in scale or structure.

However, after the August Revolution in 1945, Duyet Thi Duong was closed down. During the war, the royal theater was terribly damaged, along with other constructions in the Forbidden City.

And in the period of North-South separation, the Republic of Vietnam’s government changed Duyet Thi Duong Theater into Hue National School of Music, which is now Hue University of Arts.

At that time, many details and structures in the Duyet Thi Duong were significantly changed or destroyed. As a result, there was no space to perform arts and display exhibits.

When Vietnam was unified and free from war, however, the Hue Royal Theater received no attention. It was years of neglect and war destruction that increased the degradation of Duyet Thi Duong.

It was not until 1995–2002 that the Hue Monuments Conservation Center carried out a far-reaching restoration of the Hue Royal Theater. Then, in March 2003, it was officially opened to tourists. The seats once reserved for distinguished guests and Mandarins have now become seats for visitors.

Duyet Thi Duong Theater Nowadays

After 200 years of ups and downs, Duyet Thi Duong Theater has now become a place to preserve traditions and promote modern values.

The Duyet Thi Duong artists still perform traditional court music, dances, and classical dramas. Additionally, they make good use of modern tourism to retain and promote their traditions.

Although the Hue Royal Theater hasn’t kept its original profile due to many remarkable changes, it was reconstructed with ancient elements. Entering the theater, you can see a roof out of lapis lazuli, gilded piles, and the vintage appearance of the stage, backstage, and auditorium.

Meanwhile, they make sure to adapt everything to the purposes and functions of the theater nowadays. The first floor is the performance area whose rooms are for the actors to dress up and for the audience to enjoy performances. Also, there is the exhibition area where costumes, musical instruments, and documents about the royal traditional art of Hue.

Today, the Hue Monuments Conservation Center is responsible for managing the royal theater.

Performance At Duyet Thi Duong Theater

Performance Time

Duyet Thi Duong Theater has 4 performance sections of 45 minutes every day.

• 1st section: 9:00-9:45 AM
• 2nd section: 10:00-10:45 AM
• 3rd section: 2:30-3:15 PM
• 4th section: 3:30-4:15 PM

The Hue Royal Theater’s ticket price is 200.000 VND per person (at least 10 people per performance).

Performance Types

Duyet Thi Duong Theater has collected and performed 8 out of 11 ancient dances, 40 Hue royal court songs, and a wide range of excerpts from Vietnamese classical dramas.

Besides, the theater troupe also created new performances based on the old materials. Their works have been highly appreciated by many audiences.

Monthly, over 2.500 visitors, most of which are foreigners, come to enjoy these traditional art performances. On Hue Festivals, especially, this theater becomes even more crowded because many abroad tourists want to visit this attraction.

Hue Royal Theater Architecture

Besides the charming Hue royal court music, many people visit Duyet Thi Duong Theater because of its ancient royal architecture. It is the reputation of Duyet Thi Duong as the oldest theater in Vietnam that makes it unique for tourists.

Scale

The total area of Duyet Thi Duong ground is 11.740 square meters. Yet the area of the theater building is 1.182 square meters.

The theater was erected in a large rectangular land of 45.9 meters long and 34.5 meters wide. Moreover, it has a terrace of 2.8 meters wide. This two-story theater is supported by two rows of 12-meter wooden pillars.

Structure

Hue Royal Theater is located within the Forbidden City and connects to Can Thanh Palace with a system of corridors with roofs.

Around Duyet Thi Duong has a brick wall to mark its ground’s boundary. On that wall open two doors called Duyet Thi Ta Mon (the left door facing the north) and Duyet Thi Huu Mon (the right door facing the east).

The main gate to this royal theater is in the front and divided into three doors. The middle one is 3 meters high and 4 meters wide. And two side doors are 2.25 meters high and 1.9 meters wide. Above the three-door gate are a roof and three words meaning Duyet Thi Gate.

Inside the Hue Royal Theater are the stage and seats. The back wall of the stage has right and left doors leading to the backstage. Wardrobes, shelves, performance tools, and costumes… are kept here. Plus, there is an altar to worship the fathers of this performing career backstage.

Details

Duyet Thi Duong Theater is designed with the constructions, patterns, and features imbued with the quintessence of Nguyen’s royal architecture.

Its roof was made out of lapis lazuli and its floor was paved with square scarlet tiles. Also, the rectangular stage has a curly roof supported with wooden red pillars.

More interestingly, Hue Royal Theater’s decorations are attractively matching. Vietnamese dragon patterns are featured beautifully. The ceiling is painted blue with royal typical signs and patterns such as the moon, stars, and planets, which look like a small universe.

Conclusion

Despite a period of being neglected and degraded, the royal theater has been restored and embellished. As a result, today, as the oldest theater, it has successfully promoted Vietnamese traditions, values, and culture.

If you intend to visit Duyet Thi Duong Theater or any place in Hue City, our Hue private car service can help your visit to Hue even more convenient.

Through this article, Vietnam Vacation Travel hopes you get useful information about the Hue Royal Theater and Hue City. Thanks for reading.