House Of The Flying Water-Sleeves: Review: Righteous Yan Lanzhen (Shaoxing Yue Opera)

Title: Righteous Yan Lanzhen (盘夫索夫)
Genre: Shaoxing Yue opera (越剧)
Format: Stage opera
Production year: 1981
Director: Huang Sha
Script rearrangement: Xu Jin (Pan Fu), Chen Yu, Huang Sha and Su Xue'an (Suo Fu)
Music: Li Zichuan
Scenography: Gu Daliang
Casts: Jin Caifeng as Yan Lanzhen, Lu Jinhua as Zeng Rong, Qian Miaohua as Yan Shipan, Zhu Juxiang as Zhao Wenhua, Yu Meidi as Zhao Wanzhen

At first glance...

“Righteous Yan Lazhen” is a traditional show of the Shaoxing Yue opera. Because this show is so traditional, some people may find that it has a very strong hint of Peking opera. The Chinese title of this show may sound weird and meaningless, but it is actually the combination of two excerpt titles, “Yan Lanzhen Interrogating Her Husband” (Pan Fu) and “Yan Lanzhen Searching for Her Husband” (Suo Fu). Both excerpts formed the storyline of this show. Taking on the role of Yan Lanzhen is veteran actress Jin Caifeng, the founder of the Jin-styled singing. She was known for her vivid portrayal of this role.

Synopsis

During the reign of Emperor Jiajing of Ming dynasty, son of upright official Zeng Rong was on the run after his entire family were killed for trying to oppose villain Yan Song. He was subsequently being adopted as god-son by Yan Song’s accomplice Yan Mouqin, and married Yan Song’s doted granddaughter Yan Lanzhen. However, their marriage was not totally a happy one; throughout the first month of their marriage, Zeng Rong had been sleeping in the study room, and had never stepped into Lanzhen’s room before. Lanzhen could not understand the reason for Zeng Rong’s coldness towards her and decided to invite him over and ask him directly. After persuading Zeng Rong that he should confide in her in whatever matters he had, Zeng Rong found that Lanzhen was a virtuous lady and should have faith in her. However, just as he was about to disclose his secrets, he was suddenly reminded that she was after all the daughter of her enemy. He stormed out of Lanzhen’s room, leaving Lanzhen feeling mystified. She felt that something was not right and decided to go over to Zeng Rong’s room. Outside his room, Lanzhen overheard Zeng Rong talking to himself, and discovered his true identity. She was saddened by Zeng Rong’s misfortunes, at the same time angry over the misdeeds of his father and grandfather. After some self-thought, she decided to stand by her husband. Zeng Rong realised his foolishness in regarding his wife as an outsider and the couple finally reconciled.

Days later, Lanzhen’s father Yan Shifan sent a memo over, stating that it was her mother’s birthday and request the couple to turn up for the celebration. Lanzhen could not go as she had just got married and was not supposed to return home. However, she asked Zeng Rong to go alone instead, but reminded him not to drink too much so as not to invite trouble. Over at Yan Shifan’s mansion, Zeng Rong could not reject constant wine-toasting from his father-in-law and decided to feign drunkenness. Yan Shifan hence got his steward to bring him to the guest room for a rest. Zeng Rong tried to sneak out of the mansion, but accidentally stumbled upon the study room which Yan Song used to write petitions and thesis. He thought that he might be able to find some evidences against the Yan family, and hence decided to sneak inside for a look. Meanwhile, Zhao Wanzhen, daughter of Yan Shifan’s good friend Zhao Wenhua, was having a stroll in the Yan mansion’s back garden when she heard noises coming from the study room. She then got her maid to go and take a look. Wanzhen’s maid realised that it was Zeng Rong, and advised him to get out quickly as the study room was a restricted area and trespassers will be executed straight away. However, there were many guests outside the study room and they were unable to leave. The maid then suggested that they take refuge at Zhao Wenhua’s mansion instead, which was just next to Yan Shifan’s residence and can be accessed from another exit of the study room.

Meanwhile, Lanzhen began to worry about her husband’s safety when he failed to return by dusk. She had her maid to go and fetch him back on two occasions, but the maid was told different stories each time; Yan Shifan told her that Zeng Rong was taking a rest at the guest room on her first visit, while his wife told her that he had went back already. Lanzhen began to get suspicious and decided to go over to her father’s place with her bunch of maids to demand the return of her husband. Back at Yan Shifan’s mansion, both Lanzhen’s parents could not account for Zeng Rong’s whereabouts, and Lanzhen quickly jumped to conclusion that her father had killed her husband. She started to create a big din in the mansion, and even ordered her maids to smash all the lamps and decorations in the mansion, much to the horror of her parents. Yan Shifan may be a much feared villain in the imperial court, but he was afraid of his daughter as much as how other officials were afraid of him! He quickly got Zhao Wenhua over to try to appease his daughter. However, on seeing him, Lanzhen immediately accused him of trying to collude with her father to dispose Zeng Rong’s body. She then ordered her maids to go ransack Zhao Wenhua’s mansion instead.

At Zhao Wenhua’s mansion, Wanzhen told Lanzhen about Zeng Rong’s whereabouts, and after Zeng Rong explained the entire situation to his wife, Lanzhen thanked Wanzhen for saving her husband, and in order not to ruin the reputation of the latter, Lanzhen accused Zhao Wenhua for locking Zeng Rong up in his daughter’s room, and forced him to write a statement that he was solely responsible for all the problem caused, and had nothing to do with Wanzhen. Zhao Wenhua had to oblige, and the couple returned happily.

Review

As introduced earlier, this show is a traditional show for this opera genre, and one can see that for themselves; the costumes and hairdo of the characters were heavily influenced by Peking opera. Leading roles will have to recite a poem once on stage, and also declare their identity aloud to audience, just like traditional Peking opera shows. Not only that, the stage set was very simple and basic, a typical Peking opera characteristic. Due to these factors, non-Peking opera watchers might find this show a bit tough to watch.

Another reason that might deter audience from watching is that the plot of “Pan Fu” was very simple, and more emphasis was placed on singing. In fact, many lines of this excerpt were repeated (Zeng Rong sang about his real identity to himself, and Yan Lanzhen sang the same lines again later on to Zeng Rong, to hint him that she already knew his identity).

“Suo Fu” was a much better excerpt to watch in comparison, as it has a more interesting plot. The last 2 scenes were especially funny, when Yan Lanzhen "terrorised" her father's mansion with her gang of "iron ladies" when her father could not explain why Zeng Rong was missing.

The cast for this show were all veteran actors from Shanghai Yue Opera Company. The female lead, Jin Caifeng, really lived up to her name for her accurate portrayal of Yan Lanzhen, which is not an easy role to act. While a typical rich mistress role is elegant and gentle, the role of Yan Lanzhen has to have wit and courage too, as well as being able to throw tantrums. It is not easy to be able to grasp all these contrasting characteristics well within a single role, especially for a 50-year old lady! Lu Jinhua, the founder of the Lu-style singing, did not perform as well as I had expected her to be. Perhaps it was due to her age (she was 53 then) that she seemed a bit lack lustre in terms of performing, although her gestures and singing were still good. Qian Miaohua, who had always taken clownish or laosheng roles, acted well, though her voice had deteriorated over the years. Yu Meidi was a relatively younger actress in the cast, but she only had a small role in the show.

On the whole, the first part of the show is more for people who are into traditional Peking-opera styled shows that features heavy dosages of singing and less plot, while the second part of the show has a richer plot, and can be enjoyed by a bigger audience. One thing I failed to understand was why the operatic styles in these 2 excerpts were so different, although they were extracted from the same traditional script (which could be acted over a few days) and pieced together. This drift of style does not blend well and may appear weird, but fortunately the light-hearted plot of the second excerpt managed to distract the audience's attention away from this obvious flaw for the moment.