The third comedy festival in more than adecade has been launched in HCM City with hopes that itwill unearth new talent in bo𝔍th comedians and scriptwriters.

Observers say🎀 that the comedy scene in   HCM  ༒City   has stagnated somewhat inthe last few years because of repetition and the paucity of new creativescripts.   

TheNu Cuoi Xanh (Green Smile) 2010 festival, organised by the HCM City Yout💮hCultural House and Phuoc Sang Entertainment, will focus on urban civilisation,environmental protection and traffic ๊safety.   

Thefestival, which is organised as a contest, is open to both professional andamateur comedy troupes can in two categories – 60-minute feature plays and15-minute group and duo skits.  &nꦬbsp;

Registr✨ation for the festival will end on Sept𓄧ember 15 and the finalrounds will begin in December.   

Organisers said this is only the third festival held in the city after agap of more than a decade because they lacked the꧑ resources earlier. The firstfestival was held in 1989.   

Thecity has more than 60 comedy troupes who perform in local theatres and bars,with the most famous one found at   125 Hai Ba Trung street   , a theatre that has adopted i🦹ts address asits name. Performances at this venue usually feature popular artists like MinhNhi and Huu Nghia.   

TheNu Cuoi Moi (New Smile) Theatre with overseas Vietnamese comedian♛s like HoaiLinh and Chi Tai is also among the more popular comedy troupes in thecity.   

Linh last year won two Mai Vang (Golden Apricot) awards as FavouriteComedian and Best Stage Actor for his roles as a💫 female fortune-teller in thecomedy Cau Lac Bo Quy Ba (Lad🍷ies' Club) and as Tu, main character in the playDa Co Hoai Lang (Nostalgia).   

InCau Lac Bo Quy Ba, his performance reduced audiences to laughter and tea♒rs atthe same time, local reports said.   ✃

However, audiences have been unimpressed by the repetition they'𒁃ve seenas the troupes perform the same play several times♍ at different theatres andbars across the country.   

Arepresentative of the   125 Hai Ba Trung Street    Theatre said the quality of comedy pla🌺ys inthe city has gone down because of poor quality scripts./.