Vietnam's Circus Gets a Better Act

   Director turns the big top into a bigger draw with fresh talent, new programs and advertising.

                     HANOI--It's early morning, Sunday. Hanoi's citizenry has
                      been up for hours, exercising beside downtown lakes, eating
                      rice-and-bean breakfasts in sidewalk cafes, and now, here
                      on Tran Nhan Trong Street, lining up by the hundreds for the 9
                      a.m. performance of the Vietnam National Circus.

                      In war and peace, in good economic times and bad, the circus has
                      played to capacity crowds. It is arguably the nation's most
                      important cultural institution, a favorite of the late Communist
                      leader Ho Chi Minh and praised effusively on its tours of Asia and
                      Europe.

                      But in the early 1990s, Nguyen Tam Chinh, the circus director and
                      artistic manager, received news that she feared would end the
                      troupe's long run: As part of Vietnam's move toward an
                      open-market economy, the Communist government was slashing
                      subsidies for the arts.

                      "Before, the government paid for everything, and without that help
                      we weren't sure we could survive," said Chinh, 56, who came to the
                      big tent as a teenage acrobat and is considered Vietnam's most
                      famous modern circus performer.

                      Competition was a new concept to her. But she cut expenditures,
                      balanced the $2-million annual budget, introduced new acts,
                      recruited fresh talent, spruced up the 1,600-seat arena and even
                      started advertising. For the first time, she was allowed to send the
                      troupe on foreign tours without government approval.

                      "Moving into a free-market economy meant we had to be more
                      creative to attract an audience," Chinh said. The result, she added,
                      is that business is up, the acts that had been called stagnant are
                      new and lively, and Western circus buffs say the performers--the
                      acrobats, jugglers, clowns--are world class.

                      The circus is a small but telling example of Vietnam's ability,
                      when its people are allowed to use initiative and pursue their
                      entrepreneurial instincts, to make the shift from a state-controlled
                      monopoly to a free-market economy.

                      By Western standards, the circus is a real bargain. Ticket prices
                      range from the equivalent of 70 cents to $2, and rice popsicles cost
                      only 10 cents. Earnings for performers start at about $15 a month
                      and top out at about $65 if they reach star status. Many run shops
                      or hold odd jobs to make ends meet.

                      The circus--widely regarded as the best in Southeast Asia--still
                      bears the influence of its former Soviet advisors, and 20 of its top
                      performers trained in Moscow. Its acts include those familiar to
                      American audiences as well as skits dealing with Vietnamese folk
                      themes.

                      To the Vietnamese, the circus was an important cultural tool during
                      the country's long struggle for independence. Its message was
                      nationalistic and politicized from the time of the Japanese
                      occupation during World War II through what is called the
                      American War here.

                      The Japanese, in fact, closed the circus as a threat to their control of
                      Vietnam. Later, during the 1946-54 war of independence against
                      France, small circus troupes traveling the countryside were
                      instrumental in spreading propaganda and gathering intelligence.
                      When U.S. forces began bombing North Vietnam in 1965, Chinh
                      closed operations in Hanoi and moved to the front with her
                      husband and other performers to entertain the troops.

                      Chinh believes that the performances helped boost troop morale.
                      "At first, we traveled to the front on foot," said her husband, Le The,
                      a 38-year circus veteran. "We walked for weeks, carrying the props
                      and equipment on our backs. When the planes came, we became
                      medics, helping the wounded, burying the dead. Then, when it was
                      quiet, we did our performances."

                      The circus followed the North Vietnamese army's rapid advance
                      south in the spring of 1975.

                      Chinh and The's 11th-grade daughter has became a star circus
                      acrobat. "But the circus is not enough anymore for a young person,"
                      Chinh said. "My daughter is very smart, and we are saving to get
                      her the best education available. I hope she goes to Harvard."

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