Zhangzhou City Xiangju Opera Troupe is Here Again!

Zhangzhou City Xiangju Opera Troupe is here again, at Lor Koo Chye Sheng Hong Temple. Starting today, they'll be performing for 21 days, and their opening performance tonight is their famous "Butterfly Lovers". This show, adapted from traditional Taiwanese opera repertoire, Shanghai Yueju script and revised script by Xiangju master Shao Jianghai, has not been performed for ages, but back in the late 70s/ early 80s, this show was such a hit that the troupe once broke a record of over 300 continuous performances in a single venue.

Unfortunately, as my production for "Three Fat Virgins Unassembled" ends only tomorrow, I had to miss this show, and another show I like titled "Protecting the Treasured Baby". Hopefully these shows will be staged again during their re-runs towards the end of their performance tour!

Grand Lyrical Peking Opera "Battle of the Red Cliff"

"Battle of the Red Cliff" is a newly-produced Peking opera (in grand lyrical style) last year, in conjunction with the opening of the National Centre of the Performing Arts. I'm not sure if this mega-production was a reaction to the widely popular movie "Red Cliff", but I have to say this opera is as grand as the movie, although the artistic direction is not quite the same.

Looking at the pictures of the grand set that this production has, it can be said that this production strayed from the conventional style of Peking opera production which uses the minimalistic and highly abstract style of scenic design, and that is great, because we have come to an age whereby we're constantly stimulated by images, and it is no longer workable trying to portray a dramatic battle scene with just 1 table and 2 chairs, coupled with brightly coloured and intricately embroidered curtains as a backdrop. However, I felt that since the prouduction team had invested so much on the set, they should do likewise about the costuming as well. A brief glance at the performance pictures it's not hard to tell that the characters are still wearing the traditional Peking opera costumes which stood out like a sore thumb. For example, all wen court officials were wearing headgears with long narrow wings behind, a style which was popularised only from Song dynasty onwards, and that's about a thousand years' difference!








Having said that, I believe it is still a production worth watching, although I have no idea if this show can actually hit our shores; the cost of bringing this show in will be quite a lot, and even if it could come to Singapore, the scale of production will be greatly reduced as we might not have the facilities to stage it, not even in Esplanade.

Reports on "Dream of the Lotus Pond" 2

This is another news article on "Dream of the Lotus Pond", but features more of the concept. As I have not seen the actual show, my translation might not be accurate, but here goes anyway:

传统的《荷塘梦》不传统的呈现

《荷塘梦》在演出过程和舞台美术的处理手法上，以及人物塑造方法和服装道具的安排上都很特别。故事是传统的，但呈现上不是很传统，它不是写实故事，而是寓言式的东西，寓言和通常的戏剧不一样，不是告诉你真实生活，而是告诉你一个道理。全剧配合象征、隐喻、怪诞、意识流等表现手法和技巧，借用青蛙、荷塘冷月、幻影等意象构筑出既显又隐、神秘莫测的戏剧情节，而这一切实际上都是剧中主人公魏斯仁等被伦理道德观念沉重压抑而幽微曲折的心灵世界，以及他们对秦景仙落塘而死难以解脱的负罪心理的外部呈现与折射。在整部戏中，荷塘是鬼魅发生的地点，又是爱情的承载点，也是人的归宿。荷塘就是一个社会，《荷塘梦》引入鬼神、恐惧和非理性，给观众一种具有鬼魅色彩又具有非常强烈的道德批判精神的环境。吴晓江说，人和人之间的信任和不信任是很重要的东西，一出戏对人有启发，可以帮助我们认识生活问题，《荷塘梦》主题是在复杂和纷乱的社会当中，在任何人的交流中，如何理解不同人群的准确思想观点，如何了解人和人之间的关系，怎么在生活当中沟通和真正理解。

Traditional "Dream of the Lotus Pond" but Presented in a Non-traditional Way

“Dream of the Lotus Pond” has had a unique style of scenic, costume and character design. The show had a traditional storyline, but the way of staging was unconventional. This is not a narrative story, but a fable tale; it doesn’t tell you what happens, but tells you a moral. The whole show incorporated symbolical and metaphorical elements and surrealistic and stream of consciousness techniques, using frogs, cold moon by the lotus pond and notion of illusions and hallucinations to create the sense of mystery. This, in turn, is a representation of the distorted inner world of the leading characters like Wei Siren and the rest, who were oppressed by the burden of moral values, as well as a reflection of their unredeemable guilt by causing the death of Qin Jingxian. In the opera, the pond is where ghostly events happened, which was also a place where love blossomed and where people ended up in. The pond represents the society. The injection of supernatural entities, fear and illogical reasoning gives the audience not only the sense of supernaturalism, but also create an environment for them to make strong moral judgments. Wu Xiaojiang said that the trust and mistrust among people is a very important issue, and drama, being a good tool to inspire people and help identify problems in life, can help convey this important message through the opera’s central theme of interpersonal relationship in a complex society.

Reports on "Dream of the Lotus Pond"

I am quite glad that someone took interest in my report on "Dream of the Lotus Pond" by Xiamen Municipality Opera Troupe. I'm not sure if I'd have the chance to watch it, but I believe it would be a very different experience. To be honest, how often can one find a Chinese opera performance being stage outside a conventional proscenium setting (successfully)?

I applaud the troupe for taking this bold step to revolutionalise the opera genre. Come to think of it, in the western world of theatre, there had been so many different theatre movements and theatre genres through the centuries, and each movement or genre is a reaction to an existing movement or social changes. However, this notion of theatrical movements doesn't seem to apply for Chinese opera as yet, although I think the Taiwanese counterpart has been quite active trying to break new grounds. In fact, the fate of Chinese opera is quite bad as people find it harder to connect to this traditional art form as generations pass. I believe it is high time all Chinese practitioners sit up and do something about how to go about making Chinese opera more relevant to the contemporary society (and I don't mean blind substitution of the original language with another). If not, it won't take long before Chinese opera will exist only in history books. Perhaps we can emulate what Xiamen Municipality Opera Troupe had done, but of course we still have to keep some of our existing repertoires, not to say totally stripping it of all its essence.

Anyway, here is a report on the performance in the original Chinese version, and an English translated version done by me for the sake of readers who don't understand Chinese. I apologise in advance if my translation do not quite sound right (give me a break, I'm not a journalist or professional translator!)

《荷塘梦》小剧场里独特上演
观众席与舞台融为一体，可以全方位“看到舞台上发生的生活”

8位演员撑起一台大戏，没有频繁更换的舞台布景和炫目的灯光。舞台和观众席在同一个空间当中，整个舞台就像一个荷塘，绿色的大荷叶，清水浮萍。而观众与舞台的距离近得就像掉进了荷塘里，演员就在面前表演，动作、神态、表情尽收眼底。当苏燕蓉饰演的秦景仙鬼魂戴着面具，挥动长长的衣袖从观众席前走过时，坐在第一排的一位小女孩吓得躲进了父亲的怀里。

昨晚，厦门市歌仔戏剧团排演的大戏《荷塘梦》在厦门文化艺术中心200座实验剧场进行了首次对外彩排。本月19日下午3点，《荷塘梦》将作为“海峡两岸民间艺术节暨歌仔戏展演”的重头戏，在同一地点上演。昨晚现场观众都亲身领略到了实验小剧场的魅力。舞台向前后两侧的观众席延伸，演员下场后就坐在观众席上，他们的一举一动观众看得清清楚楚。乐队也在观众席当中，连演员谢幕都要分别朝着前后两个方向。观众不是正面看到镜框舞台，而是可以感觉到自己正偷偷看到舞台上发生的生活。“很通俗，很接近群众，很亲民”，许多观众这样评价。

导演吴晓江告诉记者，将歌仔戏放在小剧场，是希望歌仔戏除了讲故事之外，还能寻找到更多具有现代意识的呈现方法。一般人认为，人多的或者投资大、场面大的就是大戏，人少的就是小戏，其实不是这样的。这是一个空间的概念，演出环境是假定环境，实际上所有空间都可以充分利用。在西方，小剧场就是实验戏剧的代名词，很多成功的戏都是在小剧场产生的。

Unique Performance of "Dream of the Lotus Pond" in a Black Box
A Performance Where the Audience and the Stage Blends into One

8 actors in a production, without completed scenery or dazzling light. The stage and the audience co-exist in the same space, with the whole stage like a lotus pond with big lotus leaves, clear water and floating plants. The relationship between the stage and the audience has been drawn so close, as if the audience had fell into the lotus pond, and that the actors were just performing in front of them, all actions and gestures vividly executed in full view. When Su Yanrong, acting the role of the spirit of Qin Jingxian, appeared on stage with a mask through the audience, a little girl on the first row actually got a fright and hid into the arms of her father.

Xiamen Municipality Opera Troupe’s “Dream of the Lotus Pond” had it’s first open dress rehearsal in the 200-seater experimental theatre last night. On the 19th of this month at 3pm, this production shall be performed at the same venue, as part of the “Cross Straits Folk Arts Festival cum Gezi Opera Showcase”. Audience who turned up last night experienced for themselves the charm of the experimental black box theatre. The stage extended into the audience from two ends, and actors once offstage will be seated among the audience. Every action carried out by the actors could be seen in full view of the audience. The music ensemble was in the audience as well, and actors had to carry out their curtain call in both directors. The audience were not looking through the regular proscenium opening, but watching as though the drama was unfolding right in front of their eyes. “Very intimate, very direct”; this was what many members of the audience felt.

Director Wu Xiaojiang said that through the process of bringing Gezi opera into a black box, this production aimed to explore more contemporary approach to the staging, apart from mere storytelling. Most people tend to have the assumption that a “daxi” (major opera) meant high production cost or big visual spectacle, whereas “xiaoxi” (minor opera) meant productions with a small cast. This is in fact not true, as the theatre is a spatial concept, and the acting environment is just an illusionary world and in practice, any space can be utilized for performance. In the West, the black box represents experimental theatre and many successful productions were created out of black boxes.

Fang Yuan's version of "The Birthday Banquet"

For those who are into Xiangju would probably know that there's such a troupe called "Fang Yuan" from Zhangzhou. Among the non-government sponsored troupes, they're one the better ones. However, as their target audience is the general folk instead of the theatre-goers, their shows tend to be rather lengthy. There's a clip of the troupe's "The Birthday Banquet", which was originally adapted from the Yueju version by Xiamen Municipality Opera Troupe in the early 80s. As expected, "Fang Yuan" added quite a bit of lines and songs to the original script as well.

For those who find the actress acting the role of Madam Yang familiar, she was the one who acted as Guo Ai in "The Arrogant Princess". I think xiaosheng-turn-laodan actresses tend to have the kind of grand presence that usual laodan lack off. What do you think?

Experimental Gezi Opera

Xiamen Municipality Gezi Opera Troupe just went experimental in their latest production "Dream of the Lotus Pond". This is also a long-awaited new production ever since they started on their mega-project "Shao Jianghai".

"Dream of the Lotus Pond" is one of a kind in Gezi opera genre, or at very least in mainland China, as this production was not staged in a typical proscenium setting, but in a traverse stage. Staged in Xiamen Cultural Centre's Xianfeng Theatre, the actors had to enter and leave stage through the audience seating area. Surprisingly, the audience seemed to be able to accept this relatively unconventional way of Chinese opera presentation rather well, and members of the audience gave positive feedbacks like "very intimate" and "very direct". In fact, it seems that this form of presentation is very suitable for this production, since this show is not about narrating a story, but more of telling a moral. Unfortunately I'm unable to tell more about the plot as I can't seemed to find a synopsis or summary of the plot off the net. Luckily though, I found quite a number of rather well-taken photographs of the show in action. So sit back, and enjoy!

Taipei Fei Feng Yi Opera Troupe's "Dou E's Grievance"

Yesterday was my first show of Tapei Fei Feng Yi Opera Troupe, despite them having performed since 23 January.

The show they staged yesterday was "Dou E's Grievance", quite is quite a classic repertoire across many opera genres. Being a street opera troupe, I am very curious as to how they would stage it. Fortunately, this show is still rather tradition, keeping to the essence of the original text. The only difference was that the role of Zhang Lu'er, the baddie character usually portrayed as a clownish role, now had a more suave-looking appearance. It was no doubt a very far off from the conventional portrayal of this character, I feel it is still pretty much acceptable.

What I like about this show is that the dramatic structure of the story. In most other versions, the plot moves in a straight chronological pattern, and the dramatic climax, which is the part where Dou E was executed, are located right in the center of the performance. This form of story-telling is problematic to me, because the plot from the climax onwards until the resolution, which is merely about Dou E finding her father and redress her grievances, lacks the heightening tension to keep me enticed. In Fei Feng Yi's version, however, the same climax was pushed to almost to the end of the performance, and following that immediately was the resolution. In comparison, the flow of the plot is much smoother, and I feel more engaged to the story.

Of course, that is not to say the performance is not without flaws. There're instances whereby actors wear watches on stage, and inappropriately dressed ensembles. However, being street opera in nature, one can't really ask too much in these aspects, since it's supposed to focus more on entertainment than artistic appreciation.

Ghost of Dou E; at first glance I thought she resembled Kim Boey of our troupe!

Dou E's father Dou Tianzhang; I supposed the actor playing this role is the troupe leader as she was the spokesperson for the troupe last night during the interval

I thought this costume for Madam Cai looked nice, but feels too much like a Manchurian costume.

Such a suave-looking Zhang Lu'er; can you accept such drastic difference?

Actors in action.

Actors in action (court scene).

Execution scene.

Surprising Jin Jing 2

Jin Jing is one of the very few Yueju actress I know who is able to sing 5 different styles effectively. Here are some clips of her in action:

Jin Jing in Bi-style xiaosheng (fourth in sequence).


Jin Jing in Lv-style huadan


Jin Jing in Jin-style qingyi

Surprising Jin Jing

For those who frequently watch Yueju will definitely know this actress called Jin Jing. She is a Qi-styled huadan, and Qi-style singing features relatively narrow vocal range and less decorative touches. In fact, sometimes it is even thought that those who could not sing high notes will end up learning Qi-style. However, Jin Jing proved it wrong by being able to cross-sing other styles and even the relatively more demanding Xiju arias. Here are two clips of her, the first featuring her singing in Yuan-style that is even more authentic-sounding than any of Yuan Xuefen's (originator of Yuan-style singing) direct disciples, and the second features her singing Xiju opposite Huang Huijing.



For those who are clueless as to how Qi-style singing sounds like, here is Jin Jing in Qi-style singing:

D.I.Y. Hair Accessories

Haven't visited Daaron's blog for a long time and pleasantly surprised that he's now into making his own Chinese opera hair accessories. Well I like making them too, but apparently both of us have got our own sources of influence, so the kind we do are not quite the same. For Daaron, his hair accessories are more inspired by the more abstract Taiwanese style while mine are inspired by the more traditional style. Here're some of what I've done so far:

One of my first few creations. Inspiration was drawn from what Li Li wore for "The Birthday Banquet" when she performed in Singapore in 1986. As you can see, I was quite new to the art of hair accessories making, so the aesthetic sense is not there and you can even see wires wrapping around the base in an unsightly manner.

An improved version of the former, drawing a bit of inspiration from the Yueju-style slanted phoenix brooch.

Five-piece accessories experimented with sequins. The whole set consist of a central brooch (have to pin using hairpins), 2 side brooches and 2 floral pins with strands of beads (unfortunately 1 of the pins went missing)

Butterfly brooch made with mix of sequins and beads, inspired by what Li Li wore for Madam White Snake.

One of my most elaborate set, with one big central phoenix and 2 floral brooches with strands of beads.

Another elaborate set, but only 1 single piece. Looks a bit like street Teochew opera style.

A work-in-progress; hair accessories permantly fixed onto toupee made of wool.

A side phoenix made of sequins; originally planned to make it part of a complete set for "datou", but the rest of the elements are too difficult to reproduce, so this has become like a stand-alone piece.

Reflections of the Red Mansion

Zhao Zhigang, one of the very few famous male Yueju performers in China, performed in a monologue, somewhat avant-garde like Yueju piece titled "Reflections of the Red Mansion" in 2006, and this show is what I'd like to share about in this post.


Unlike all other shows he had previously performed, Zhao Zhigang acted as himself, instead of any other characters in "Romance of the Red Mansion". So what's the link between himself and this classic opera? Well, the leading character of the "Romance of the Red Mansion", Jia Baoyu, grew up being one of the few men among womenfolk, and Zhao Zhigang himself is one of the very few male Yueju performers in the scene. This to him is a very big problem, and sometimes he even feels awkward. Hence, instead of trying to create a different perspective to the classic tale, this performance tells about the unknown pressure he had all these years as a male actor, and how he isn't very happy with the fact that almost all roles on stage are taken up by female actors.

I can understand his agony; compare him with other Yueju actresses in the market and one can easily see why he's feeling this way. Maybe some people will argue that his singing is too "effeminate" for their liking. Well, he may be sounded too "soft", but I believe it isn't his fault, since when an actor's mentor or peers are generally members of the opposite sex, one tends to pick up traits of them and incorporate in their own performance. Just like when I took vocal training with my troupe members in the past, I was also the only male student, and my coach (a female) commented that I was at a learning disadvantage because male and female anatomy is different and I had no one to take reference too. She also commented that it would have been better if I joined a class with more male students, or was taught by a male vocal coach. On another hand, if Zhao Zhigang is penalised for sounding too "effeminate", why is it that Xiao Ya, a female Yin-style actress (same mentor as Zhao Zhigang) remains highly popular and appears in almost every year's CCTV Spring Festival Gala? I think she sounded creepily feminine too, but it seems audience in general can accept that better.

Talent aside, female Yueju actresses generally are far more popular than Yueju actors, to a point that they're marginalised, and in some instances they are cast aside simply because audience prefer to see female actors taking on male roles. And it doesn't help by the fact that the concept of male and female actors to have equal performing opportunities have been implemented for quite a while now. Till then, like when performing "Romance of the Red Mansion", Zhao Zhigang is always the only real biological man on stage even though there were other male characters too. Therefore, who is to be blamed: is it the opera's fault, his own fault for choosing Yueju as his career, or the fault of gender-biased audience? I believe this is something all Chinese opera practitioners and fans to really ponder about.

Lor. Koo Chye Sheng Hong Temple's 2009 Spring Temple Fair Performance

Keeping by their annual tradition, Lor. Koo Chye Sheng Hong Temple is organising a series of opera performances as part of their Spring Temple Fair this year for all Hokkien opera lovers out their. Over the period from 23 January to 8 February next year, Fei Feng Yi Stage Opera from Taipei will be presenting a total of 17 different shows each night.

To know more about this opera troupe, please visit their blog at Yahoo! Taiwan.

Chinese Opera 3-in-1: The Jade Flying Phoenix

I found this on 56.com recently, about a theatrical performance in China which has got actors from Yueju, Xiju and Kunqu performing together. It wasn't a very new show already, as this video I found was uploaded early last year. This show, titled "The Jade Flying Phoenix", tells the story of Fan Li and Xi Shi after the fall of the kingdom of Wu. In this show, there're 3 pairs of Fan Li and Xi Shi; Zhao Zhigang and Zhao Haiying formed the Yueju pair, Zhou Dongliang and Li Shuxian the Xiju pair and Zhang Jun and Lei Ling the Kunqu pair. I'm curious as to how the producers integrate the elegance of Kunqu, the gentleness of Yueju and the meliodious nature of Xiju into one cohesive theatrical piece, but since no video recording of it is available either on the net or in VCD/ DVD format , I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed for now!

Ma Lan Goes Nanyin

Contrary to my other posts with similar-wording titles, this time round, I'm really going to blog about famous Huangmei opera actress Ma Lan singing Hokkien Nanyin! Well it was all part of a gala performance whereby famous Chinese opera (and may some folk music singers) get out of their usual opera and musical genre to sing in another totally different genre which they might not have touched before. I personally like Ma Lan singing Huangmei opera, and I think I should credit her for trying to sing in a dialect which was claimed to be one of the top 10 hardest Chinese dialects to master. However, to be real honest, I'm simply not used to her way of rendition.

Orchestral Liyuan Opera

Liyuan opera has its own set of musical instruments which is not shared by many other opera genres. Therefore, it is very rare to have Liyuan opera collaborating with other musical genres, not even Chinese orchestra. However, lately, Fujian Province Liyuan Experimental Opera Troupe has been invited to perform in Beijing with the accompaniment of western orchestra. Take a look at it here:

Opera @ North West CDC

Here are the updated posters for the upcoming Chinese opera series for North West CDC's Artsfest, which would be held in the month of September to December.

Yueju Drama Serial "The Butterfly Lovers"

I finally found Hua Weiqiang's "The Butterfly Lovers" on the net. For those who do not know who on earth is this Hua Weiqiang, he is a famous Yueju actor from Zhejiang. Like some of his fellow mates from Zhejiang Yueju Company, he has very few works that has been made into drama serials or VCDs, and on top of that, he is a male actor, making him all the more rarer (Yueju opera has been dominated by female actresses in many troupes for decades already). I personally find Hua Weiqiang's voice quite nice, but it's a pity that he does not have a face to match. I'm not too sure if other people feel the same way as me, but you can listen to it for yourself.

In this version of "The Butterfly Lovers", Hua Weiqiang did not really act, but lend his voice to the actor taking on the role of Liang Shanbo. Although I had been looking high and low for this show, I know well that this show may not be good as I've heard very bad comments on it. Some netizens have complained that the whole show has been ruined by bad acting by actors who are not even trained in Chinese opera. After watching a bit of it, I find that it really isn't that good. However, my main focus is actually on Hua Weiqiang's singing, so other aspects are not that important for me.

A.C. Goes Liyuan Opera

No, I'm not leaving my favourite Xiangju to sing Liyuan opera, but as a fan of the latter, I've always wanted to learn how to sing and perform in that genre, and apply whatever I have learn into what I'm doing now. Afterall, it doesn't quite hurt to learn more right?

So here I am, learning how to sing an aria of Chen San from "The Lantern Festival" from "Chen San and Wuniang". Somehow I just find my rendition very odd-sounding, not too sure if it's my singing or that the music, which was made using a MOD tracker, sounded too unauthentic.

jiangxi Ganju Opera: "The Centennial Love" - the video

I had recently blogged about Jiangsu Ganju "The Centennial Love", and guess what; I've found the complete show over 56.com!

The female lead of the show, Plum Award winner Chen Li's "shenduan" was  delicate, and she managed to effectively display and switch between different emotions. Not forgetting that it wasn't an easy feat for an actress to take on a role whose age spanned over 3-quarters of a century!

Now I'm trying to see if there's any way I can get hold of the original VCD or DVD of this show. It's certainly a must buy for me.

Stylish Elements in a Traditional Opera Genre: Quanzhou Liyuan Opera

Quanzhou's Liyuan opera may be one of the oldest existing form of Chinese opera in China, but it doesn't mean that they are so traditional to the point they become old-fashion. At least not in terms of character makeup (costume and hairdo). Instead of spotting regular "datou" on female roles as in more traditional opera genres like Peking opera and Cantonese opera, Liyuan opera had gone through a fair bit of "cosmetic surgery" to inject some modern elements in their character portrayal. Below  are some pictures taken during Fujian Liyuan Opera Experimental Troupe's performance at Taiwan earlier this year. The troupe performed an excerpt from "Li Yaxian" for the opening of Koxinga Festival.

Actually, the "datou" system of hairdo has not been completely removed from Liyuan opera, but their style of "datou" is very different from other opera genre; some featured sharp pointed fringes, some had slanted gelled fringes, and typical the actors do not decorate their hair as elaborate as other opera genres, hence creating a more minimalist and elegant look. Here are some other character portrayals from other shows by the same troupe.