Chèo Theatrical Art - Thiệt Thê play and faithful women

Thiệt Thê is known as one of the most famous plays in Chèo Theatrical Art and all faithful women often compared with Thiệt Thê.

Chu Mãi Thần is strong-willed man. He earns his living by gathering firewood while he studies. But he married to Thiệt Thê, a good-for-nothing, lazy woman. Fed up with her husband’s poverty and serious pursuit of studies, Thiệt Thê leaves Chu Mãi Thần and takes up a new, luxurious life as a concubine of Tuần Ty.

Tuần Ty, a native of central Vietnam, is a prosperous tax collector mandarin for commercial boats in the north. His first wife, Đào Huế, discovers that her husband is taking a concubine. Đào Huế searches for and finds her husband buying jeweler for Thiệt Thê. A scene of jealousy follows, and Thiệt Thê is forced away.

On her way home, Thiệt Thê sees a glorious procession of a new laureate from the courts exams and is surprised that the laureate is Chu Mãi Thần . She asks for renewal of their conjugal ties, but Chu Mãi Thần does not accept her back. Being humiliated, Thiệt Thê must leave. Lightening strikes her dead because the gods have no pity on unfaithful women.

This play also combines lyricism with drama and many exemplary comic scenes.