7.7.2023 (Fri) 7:30pm

Excerpt Waylaying the Horse

Based on The Generals of the Yang Family and distinguished by its martial arts scenes, this Han Opera excerpt is a classic in the stock repertory.

While going on an expedition with the Yang army, Jiao Guangpu is stranded in hostile territory. He remains incognito and operates an inn at Boundary Stake Pass. He always longs to return home but in vain, because he could not get pass the border crossing. Twenty years later, Dowager She sends the eighth daughter of the Yang family, Yang Bajie to sneak into the Liao kingdom to spy on the enemy’s military activities. Disguised as a man, Bajie arrives at Guangpu’s inn. The security pass she carries on her waist catches Guangpu’s attention and he plans to steal it. His actions arouse Bajie’s suspicions and the two end up fighting, and Guangpu sees through Bajie’s impersonation. On learning the truth, they ruefully acknowledge each other.

Main Cast: Wen Junhua, Hu Ziyu

The Cosmic Sword

Adapted from the signature repertory of the Han Opera virtuoso, Madam Chen Bohua, this adaptation of The Cosmic Sword retains the two best known excerpts Writing the Petition at the Zhao Residence and Faking Insanity at the Imperial Court. Also featured are additional scenes like Distorting the Truth, Zhao-Kuang Alliance and Stealing the Sword and Framing Kuang which greatly enhance the overall coherence of the storyline. It has become the most popular Han Opera in the last decade, winning accolades that include the Wenhua Drama Award at the China Arts Festival, the Outstanding Drama Award at the Chinese Theatre Festival and ‘Five One Project Awards’.

The story takes place in the Qin Dynasty. Zhao Gao is the Imperial Tutor who harbours the ambition to usurp absolute political power and to this end, engineers a travesty at court. His treachery is opposed by the Prime Minister Kuang Hong. Kuang possesses a ‘Cosmic Sword’ bestowed by the late emperor that accords him the authority to execute wrongdoers without need for prior imperial permission. To neutralise his dissident, Zhao schemes to form an alliance with Kuang by marrying his daughter Zhao into the Kuang family. Yet he does not expect that his scheme is foiled when Kuang refuses to collaborate with him. So Zhao steals the Cosmic Sword and frames the Kuang family for a crime they did not commit, thus landing them in jail. Zhao then takes his daughter home, planning to offer her to the younger Emperor Qin to further ingratiate himself. He hopes the emperor will in return bestow the Cosmic Sword on him. On realising her father’s devious plot, Yanrong resolutely resists him and the emperor. In the end, she manages to bravely extricate herself from her predicament and embarks on the difficult yet promising journey to find her husband.

Main Cast: Wang Li, Zhu Yong, Wang Jing, Xiong Guoqiang, Zeng Chun, Fan Qiong, Shan Qing

The running time of each performance is approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes including an intermission of 15 minutes.

8.7.2023 (Sat) 7:30pm

Excerpt A Novice Monk and a Young Nun Revoking Their Vows

This is a comedy largely adapted from the traditional excerpts Yearning for Secular Life and Fleeing the Mountain. The plot is humorous and witty, and the characters are portrayed with insight.

Growing up in the Xiantao Nunnery as a novice with the religious name of Sekong, a young girl from the Zhao family is unwilling to bear the harsh and lonely life of the order. Yearning for the secular world, she absconds. Meanwhile, the young monk Mengwu flees from the monastery in the mountain as he likewise cannot bear the austere life and loneliness there. When the two runaways meet along the way, they get on extremely well and share their thoughts. They make a pact to revoke their respective vows in order to be married.

Main Cast: Sun Wei, Wang Xiaolu

Admonition by Suicide

This play is a composite of three excerpts. The first is Crossing Yinping, which portrays Deng Ai as a strategist who knows the war craft by heart and has a track record of being highly successful with his military stratagem and wisdom. The role is designed for a shiza (painted face) in Han Opera. The second excerpt from Jiangyou Pass features the sidan (virtuous female) role in the lead. The actor in this dan role was trained by Hu Heyan, a National Intangible Cultural Heritage Bearer and winner of an Outstanding Legacy Award from the Ministry of Culture. The third excerpt, Crying in the Ancestral Temple, is a classic in the repertoire of the Wu Tianbao school of Han Opera, well-known at home and abroad. Its arias sung in fan erhuang mode are impassioned and profoundly poignant.

The story takes place during the Three Kingdoms period. The Wei generals Deng Ai and Zhong Hui are sent on a military expedition to Sichuan with the purpose of overrunning the State of Shu. While Zhong is deadlocked with the Shu general Jiang Wei, Deng, in his desire to one up Zhong Hui, secretly leads his troops through the Yinping trail to ambush the enemy garrison at Jiangyou Pass. Upon learning that Deng’s vanguard is at their doorstep, the Shu general Ma Miao is fearful and plans to surrender, a move his wife Madam Li vehemently opposes to no avail. Going against his wife’s advice to repel the attackers, Ma Miao throws open the city gates and capitulates without resistance by handing over the city seal. Grief-stricken and indignant, Madam Li kills herself as the ultimate sacrifice for her state. The Shu emperor Liu Shan is terrified by the turn of events and his advisers Qiao Zhou and Huang Hao strongly advocate surrender. Liu Shan’s son Liu Chen, Prince of Beidi, attempts to convince his father to fight, but his pleas fall on deaf ears. Furious, Liu Chen returns to his palace and kills his wife and son. Then, he goes to the Imperial Ancestral Temple to tearfully beg for forgiveness from his illustrious ancestors before he kills himself.

Main Cast: Wang Li, Xiong Guoqiang, Zhu Yong, Zeng Chun, Shan Qing, Mao Wei, Yi Chao, Yan Changlin

The running time of the performance is approximately 2 hours and 45 minutes including an intermission of 15 minutes.

9.7.2023 (Sun) 2:30pm

When the Plum Tree Blooms Again

The storyline of this play is full of twists and turns from start to finish, and is one of the most popular Han operas since the founding of the People’s Republic of China. In particular, after its performance by Han Opera virtuoso Madam Chen Bohua in the 1950s, the play is included as a mandatory classic in the training of successive cohorts of students at the Chen Bohua school of Han Opera. Both the scenes Praying to Plum Blossoms and Chastising the Minister highlight the elegant demeanor and dignified disposition of the qingyi (virtuous female) role, and noble qualities like loyalty, filial piety, chastity and righteousness are well-aligned with the Chen style of performance. In the Congtai scene, the singing showcases the subdued and melodious erhuang tone of the Chen school.

The story takes place during the Tang dynasty. Treacherous prime minister Lu Qi brings false charges against Mei Bogao to destroy him and his family. Bogao’s son Mei Liangyu manages to escape by travelling incognito. He finds refuge as a servant at the home of Chen Risheng, a close friend of Bogao. One day, a strong wind blows and causes the plum flowers in full bloom in the Chen residence to shed. As ‘plum’ is ‘mei’ in Chinese, the fate of the plum flowers reminds Risheng of the tragic fate of his close friend, Mei Bogao and his family. He is so disheartened that he wants to take a vow to become a Taoist monk. His anguish moves the gods, and the plum blossoms bloom once more. When offering prayers in the garden, Risheng’s daughter Chen Xingyuan happens to meet Liangyu. After questioning, she realises Liangyu is the scion of the Mei family. Risheng is overjoyed and betroths Xingyuan to Liangyu. At the malicious behest of Lu Qi, the emperor suddenly decrees that Xingyuan is to be sent to the frontier to marry a barbarian as a peace offering. Heartbroken and distraught, Xingyuan chastises Lu Qi bitterly. On her way to the border, Xingyuan meets with Liangyu at Congtai, where they get engaged and swear eternal love for one another, before finally committing suicide by leaping off the cliff at the Temple of Lady Wang Zhaojun.

Main Cast: Li Qing, Zhang Zhiwen, Wu Zhengguang, He Yu, Zhu Yong, Mao Wei, Shan Qing, Xiong Guoqiang

The running time of the performance is approximately 2 hours and 40 minutes including an intermission of 15 minutes.

Information provided by the arts groups

Wuhan Han Opera Theatre

The Wuhan Han Opera Theatre was formerly the Wuhan Han Opera Troupe, first founded in 1962. Led by Madam Chen Bohua, a leading virtuoso of the art form, the group has built a strong cast with the ten main role types all complete, and has contributed tremendously to the research, archive compilation and innovation of the traditional art form of Han Opera. It was listed in 2013 as a major performing company for regional theatre at national level. Among the virtuosi under its banner, there are winners of the China Theatre Plum Blossom Award, National Class One Performers, as well as a strong base of talented young actors. Many of its productions have won awards in national competitions, such as the Outstanding Drama Award at the Chinese Theatre Festival, the Chutian Wenhua Grand Award at the first Arts Festival of Hubei, the ‘Five One Project Awards’, the Drama Showcase Award at the second Arts Festival of Hubei and the Outstanding Drama Award at the Studio Productions Competition of China. Some of the group’s stage productions have been made into art films for Chinese traditional theatre and television series and won rave reviews at home and abroad.

Han Opera

First known as Chuqu (songs of the south) or Handiao (Han tunes), and with a history of nearly 400 years, Han Opera is one of the oldest forms of traditional theatre in China. It was already a popular genre in Hubei, Hunan, Shaanxi and Yunnan Provinces in the mid-Ming dynasty (circa 15^th to 16^th centuries). By the Qing dynasty, the merging of the regional Hui operatic troupes with the Han diao style gave rise to Peking Opera. The prototype voice modes of Han Opera are the vigorous xipi and the lingering, delicate erhuang, both styles have rich expressive qualities. Collectively known as the 'Eight Hundred Plays', Han Opera has a diverse collection of traditional repertoire. Most of them are based on historical stories and folk legends. It also has an established system for ten role types. Han Opera was listed on the first list of Intangible Cultural Heritage at National Level in 2006.