prison

Episode 17 - Behind Bars; Cải Lương (Vietnamese Folk Opera)

Prison is often not the ultimate punishment for Việt Nam's political prisoners. Behind prison walls, another ordeal begins. In this week's "A Look Inside," Loa’s Giang Nguyễn has the story of young activists who’ve gone through hell and lived to tell the story.

There’s a part of Vietnamese performance art that is distinctly emotional -- melodramatic, you might even call it. Actually, we call it Cải Lương. It’s folk opera that amplifies human drama with plaintive notes and a haunting pitch. This week, Lilly Nguyễn goes back in time to her first musical memory of cải lương to discover the story behind this traditional musical theater.