The gold medal screenwriter Du Guowei of "The Thirteenth Son of the South China Sea" and "I Have a Date with Spring" explores the new realm of Cantonese opera with his new creation!
The newly-adapted Cantonese opera "Legend of Love in the Bamboo Forest", commissioned by the Hong Kong Art Festival, won unanimous praise from critics and audiences after its world premiere at the 2023 Hong Kong Art Festival. The play was created by the legendary screenwriter Du Guowei of "I Have a Date with Spring" and "The Thirteenth Son of the South China Sea". It is based on historical figures, creates roles and situations familiar to modern people, creates a bamboo forest legend full of cinematic feeling, and conveys Du Guowei's best portrayal of "emotion", including love, family affection, and the relationship between monarchs and ministers. It can be said to be a culmination of decades of experience in drama, Cantonese opera and film creation. The performance is directed by Hong Kong's veteran Cantonese opera star Xin Jianlang. In addition to returning to the traditional Cantonese opera, the old man also worked with the new generation of Hong Kong elites who love Cantonese opera art to create a "youth version" of Cantonese opera. The newly-adapted Cantonese opera "Legend of Love in the Bamboo Forest" has been hailed as "the treasure of Hong Kong Cantonese opera" and "a rare masterpiece in recent years". It will be staged in the Greater Bay Area in October this year, with tour stops including Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Foshan and Zhuhai.
Lan Tianyou, a male actor, learned from the master of opera, Lam Ka-sing, and was exposed to the essence of the Lam School. He is extraordinary and good at both civil and martial arts. Zheng Yaqi, an all-round female actor, has beautiful hands, clear singing, and solid skills. He has performed Ren Bai Opera Treasure with the famous artist Long Jiansheng four times, becoming a legend in the theater world. Du Guowei specially wrote many civil and martial arts plays for this golden boy and jade girl Cantonese opera couple, showing their tacit understanding and excellent singing, reciting, acting and fighting skills. In addition to retaining the traditional Banghuang singing style, music designer Jiang Junjie also designed many pleasant and novel music between the scenes. The performance started with "General's Order" as the overture, which was magnificent; the new song was used as the theme song at the end of the play, and the fresh and pleasant chorus of the male and female actors lingered in the ears for three days. Zhang Zhenghe, the award-winning stage design of "The Lawyer", designed beautiful and creative scenes for the performance, which were dazzling.
The Hong Kong Art Festival's newly adapted Cantonese opera "Legend of Love in the Bamboo Forest" was selected as one of the "National Arts Fund's 2024 Communication, Exchange and Promotion Funding Projects". The Guangzhou performance was funded by the Hong Kong Art Festival Foundation.
Cantonese opera is one type of Chinese traditional theatre, with singing and spoken lines delivered in the Cantonese dialect. It is popularly found in the Cantonese-speaking regions, which include mainly Guangdong, Guangxi, Hong Kong and Macao.
In each opera production, the story is told through the "four basic skills" of singing, acting, delivery of spoken lines and martial arts, enhanced by stage makeup, costumes, props and the percussive beats on gongs and drums. The presentation format is a fine mixture of literature, drama, ballad singing, dance and martial arts. The singing style, role types, makeup, stylised movements, libretti and singing scores are all rich in artistic value. Aside from being a form of performing art for public entertainment, Cantonese opera can serve as religious drama presented as part of the ritual of thanksgiving to the deities, or for occasions of jiao festivals. It is therefore highly praised for its social and cultural values. Cantonese opera was inscribed onto the first national list of ICH in 2006, and the UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2009.
There is debate about the origins of Cantonese opera, but it is generally accepted that opera was brought from the northern part of China and slowly migrated to the southern province of Guangdong in the late 13th century, during the late Southern Song dynasty. In the 12th century, there was a theatrical form called the Nanxi or "Southern drama", which was performed in public theatres of Hangzhou, then capital of the Southern Song. With the invasion of the Mongol army, Emperor Gong of the Song dynasty fled with hundreds of thousands of Song people into Guangdong in 1276. Among them were Nanxi performers from Zhejiang, who brought Nanxi into Guangdong and helped develop the opera traditions in the south.
Many well-known operas performed today, such as Tai Nui Fa originated in the Ming Dynasty and The Purple Hairpin originated in the Yuan Dynasty, with lyrics and scripts in Cantonese. Until the 20th century all the female roles were performed by males.
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