Performance After-thoughts: "The Teacher, The Thief" at Tampines East C.C.

I just returned from my troupe's performance at Tampines East Community Club, and am too tired to do anything. Today we performed "The Teacher, The Thief", our most well-loved show by our audience. It is actually quite unusual for us to perform this show today, because the last time we performed this show at this same community club was just less than 2 years ago. Previously, we were not allowed to repeat the same show in the same venue again, unless after a lapse of at least 5 years.

So, how do we fare in our performance today? Well, it depends whether if one's looking at the narrow perspective or wide perspective. If wide perspective, that is, the show on the whole, it was a success; our audience loved it, and were totally engrossed in our acting. However, from the narrow perspective view, our actors had hiccups here and there. So far we have not had so much hiccups in a single night before during all our previous runs of this same show. Why did we have so much hiccups? Did we have too little time to rehearse before the actual performance? Or that we had not prayed to our "Gods" before the show commence? Well I won't want to conclude anything for now, but I just can't help wondering...

My self-made beard; how do you find it? Our troupe has got no beard which I think is suitable for my role, so I had no choice but to make one on my own.

Is this a lady from the ancient world brought to modern time, or a lady from modern time brought back to ancient world?

Show me your hand only when you have got gold or diamonds!

My makeup today, in "pseudo Yueju" style; lately our troupe members started to shift from Taiwanese style of makeup to the more softer Yueju style, which is similar to what I had always put on for the past few years

A Night at Tong'an City Hokkien Opera Troupe's Performance

Yesterday's the debut performance for Tong'an City Hokkien Opera Troupe at Lor Koo Chye Sheng Hong Temple. This was held in conjunction with the Spring Festival, as well as the fund-raising facilities for the temple's charity funds. I think this temple is getting "well-to-do" now, as recently they've just engaged 2 Taiwanese troupes to perform in their temple, and a few months later, it was said that Xiamen Municipality Gezi Opera Troupe is coming again; it is not cheap to engage foreign troupes to perform here!

So how do I rate the performance? Well there're good and bad aspects of the troupe. The good point is that the accent used by the troupe in general belongs to Xiamen region, which sounds more "homely" for me. The bad point is that the costumes and hairdo for the troupe is not good. I'm very particular about dans who sport very ugly wigs, as if their "hair" is totally detached from their head, and some of the costumes simply screamed "cheap" into the audience's face. Other than that, I think the troupe in general is rather average. Some of the actors could sing rather okay, but some simply sound like screaming and wailing. Musically speaking, I was rather surprised that their musical style resembled that from Longhai region, which was under Zhangzhou territory; I'd have expected their music to be more biased towards Xiamen, since Tong'an is a territory of Xiamen. Well, this was only their first performance, I shall be more lenient towards them. I shall see if things will get better as they perform!

Baddie in green: You spoil my costume and you buy me a new one!

Palace maids: Help! Someone had released toxic gas! *fainted*

Royal concubine: Put out the toxic gas! Quick!

Palace maids: We'll try... we'll try to fan the fumes away!

As a reward for your hard work, I shall give all of you $1 each!

General in white: My costume's colour is nicer!

General in green: Yeah right, but my costume is newer than yours!

General in green: You tell us; who has got the nicer costume?!

Lady in white: Forget it! Mine's more beautiful!

A.C. Paper Theatre

I've just built a theatre of my own, in location of my bedroom! Actually it was model theatre, which I had done up to aid me in my scenography work which will be becoming more significantly important in my opera troupe. I'm not too sure how it will affect me as an actor (since I didn't join the troupe initially to do behind-the-scene works), but most likely I'll be busier than ever.

My paper theatre: made of mounting boards and cartridge paper.

Stage is modeled after the one at Chong Pang Community Club's multi-purpose hall (the venue which we perform the most frequent), with a scale of 1:50, including all props and model actors.

Can you see who they are? They're Amai and Yanni, two of my model actors!

My other model actors.

In case you can't tell how big/ small my paper theatre is, here's a clue to it!

CutePress Powder Commercial from Bangkok

I've found this interesting TV commercial from Bangkok for CutePress cosmetic powder. It doesn't matter if you don't understand Thai, for the visuals explains all.


Personally I felt that the ad was funny enough, but at the same time, the stereotypical portrayal of Chinese opera actors as people who wore thick horrible-looking makeup is a bit hard for me to accept.

Tsunami In My Room

Lately I have been dropping more hair than usual. Partly because of my recent rebonding, and partly because I'm pulling out hair as my room was messy as if it has just been hit by Tsunami.

Why is my room in such a mess? Why, my father suddenly had the idea of changing the "geomancy" of my room, and everything in my room, with the exception of some wall shelves, were shifted around. Some of my CD cabinets and shelves had to go in the process, and hence by the time my father had finished with his work, I was left behind to clear up the mess my father left behind, particularly my CD collection, which I can conservatively say, is more than a thousand pieces. It'd still be relatively easy for me to pack if my collection of CDs don't span into multiple genres, but unfortunately that's not the case. I listened to a very wide range of music, from Thai pop to Chinese folk to Spanish Bolero, and organising them is simply agonising, especially so when they're now thrown all over the place.

Halfway through "damage control" after "wreakage" of my room

But then, I guess this is a good time to do stock-take. While packing up, I realised that there're some CDs which I have almost forgotten I used to owe them. I've also found some duplicate CDs, to which I don't quite recall why on earth did I buy 2 same albums for!

Two same albums: Z Chen's "May I Love You". Why on earth did I buy 2?!

Now my room's almost 80% cleared, and it has taken me over a week to just do so. Well, at least my room looked much neater now. Previously due to lack of storage space for my CDs, many of them were stacked above my speakers, which were at risk of toppling over whenever I try to take an album in the middle of the stack (imagine the game Jenga). But that's still not the end of the whole story. In the next few years, we'll be shifting out, and the same process is going to happen again!

I have 11 sets of Wuxi opera VCDs in my collection...
... But wait! There's still 7 more which had just arrived!
Can I safely (and proudly) say that I have the largest collection of Wuxi opera VCDs in Singapore?

An entire shelf dedicated to Taiwanese Gezi and Minnan Xiangju opera alone.
(My mum said it looks like those herbal shelves found in traditional Chinese medical halls!)

Another Completed Piece of Work!

I'm so happy today, but it has got nothing to do with Fahrenheit nor Jiro nor Hana Kimi. It has got to do with my troupe's "Tragedy Of The Song Palace" performance in 2004; I've finally finished my DVD authoring work for the show, and made into a 2-disc DVD set complete with jewel case design and disc labels!

This is perhaps the work which took me the longest time to edit, all thanks to the video quality of the original footages, which were not up to my expectation. The lighting conditions captured on the mini DV tapes were simply too dark, and I tried to do some adjustments on the lighting in my video editing software. I've spent many months working on it, but gave up finally. Afterall, it's useless adjusting as my computer monitor wasn't calibrated, and whatever I do will not appear the same when played back on my DVD player. Then there was also the problem of too frequent angle switches in the original video footage. I don't know what was the rationale for the videographers for the show to keep switching from one angle to another within seconds in a show; for goodness sake this is not a MV filming! The angle switching was so frequent that it was simply an eyesore, and I had to substitute some scenes from video footages captured by our own crew. All these, together with the subtitling work, took me close to 2 years to complete, alongside other work committments and problems.

I can't wait to show my "masterpiece" to my fellow troupe mates later when I go for rehearsals; I haven't even told them about my completed work too! Although this piece of work took me too long a time to complete, it was nevertheless one of my most satisfied one. Whether the troupe decides to release the DVD officially or not is longer my main concern. The job satisfaction gained from completing this piece of work is good enough for me!

Interview @ MediaCorp Radio

Yesterday, I went to the MediaCorp Radio for an interview. Not that I wanted to find a job in the radio industry, but I was there to be given an interview by News 938 on Chinese opera issues. Just last week, an agency which is working closely with the Northwest CDC on it’s Northwest Arts Festival had approached me and Art with regards to some interviews on some topics. I was scheduled for a radio interview on Chinese opera, while Art would be scheduled for a magazine interview on promoting Chinese opera to children.

The interview was said to start at 10.30am, but nevertheless I had to be at MediaCorp by 10am so that I could run through the questions which might be asked during the interview. I wasn’t the only one to be interviewed, as another representative from a local Cantonese opera troupe would be in the recording studio as well.

This wasn’t the first time I got interviewed, but previous interviews were pre-recorded, so I was more nervous this time round. Also, as News 938 is an English station with perhaps non-Chinese DJs, I wasn’t sure if I would be asked some funny questions which I might not have the answers to. Luckily, the atmosphere was rather relaxed in the recording studio, all thanks to the 2 DJs in the studio, Mahesha Thenabadu and Stanley Leong. However, I fumbled in my speech at various times, which I felt like banging my head against the wall. Perhaps I needed to go to the loo, and hence I wasn’t able to react well! But anyway, the interview ended in less than half an hour, which was a bit too short for me; I just got started to enjoy the interview!

It was a fun interview session, and I hope there would be another chance to go on air, as long as I am an invited guest and not a DJ! Actually, I had once dreamt of being a radio DJ, but looking at how Stanley Leong do news reporting, I don't think I would be able to make it. Stanley was reading rather fluently from a newscript with a font size of perhaps only 10, and I think if I am asked to do the same, I'd probably had to stick the newscript onto my forehead! Nevertheless, this is one interesting experience which I don't think I'd ever forget.

"Romance of the Dragon Princess": Performance Afterthought

It has been a few days since "Romance of The Dragon Princess" has been staged at Bukit Panjang Community Club, but I have yet to blogged anything about it due to my busy time schedule.

Looking back at last Sunday's performance, this show can be considered a success, as we received a few positive feedback from the audience, and our troupe has been approached to be interviewed over radio as well. From artistic perspective, I like this show as the music was well-composed, all thanks to Mr. Yang Senlin, the composer we had invited from Zhangzhou City Xiang Opera Troupe. This is despite the script was just average, due to the fact that the original Huangmei opera show was adapted from a folk legend. However, I don't quite like this show personally, as this is one show that almost made me totally discouraged in acting.

In 2001, when our troupe announced that we would be acting this show for our bi-annual theatrical performance in 2002, I was disappointed to know that I would be taking on the roles of miscellenous characters. Not that I am ambitious to want to take on lead roles, but having been in the troupe for almost half a decade, and in terms of capability or opera knowledge I certainly do not belong to the bottom ranks. This was not all; as we started our rehearsals, I was told that the musical ensemble was short of one percussionist, and hence I had to be withdrawn from stage to help out in the musicians' pit. I initially joined the troupe because I want to perform, and now that I did not have the chance to act in our bi-annual theatrical performance was a big blow to me, and almost resulted me in quitting. However, I did not leave in the end somehow, after my leader thanked me for "sacrificing" my role. Luckily for me, I was able to get back one of my slightly more significant roles, a heavenly general, in subsequent re-runs of this show in 2004. I also took the initiative to do the projection backdrop for the performance at Tampines East Community Club, which was my first attempt, but was well-received by the audience too.

Back to our performance last Sunday. Bukit Panjang Community Club was one of our "not-so-hot" performance venues, as our previous performance experiences there only received lukewarm responses. That night, however, it was close to full-house, even though it was raining dogs and cats just before the show started. I believed the "miracle" was due to the fact that the show was fully sponsored by the Northwest CDC. Not that I'm belittling our troupe's capabilities, but this is the real world: Hokkien opera-goers in general only watch Hokkien opera if it's free! Or unless the troupe is from Taiwan. I remembered in Chong Pang, an uncle came up to me and asked if we are from Taiwan. When I told him we're all local, he gave an uninterested face and commented "I'm a Teochew, I don't understand Hokkien!" (Give me a break, please! Taiwanese opera artistes do not speak Teochew as well!). Anyway, I still feel thankful that our show were sponsored. At least it made more people willing to come and watch our show, which is good, as it makes people more aware of our existence.

We still have a few upcoming shows in conjunction with NorthWest CDC's arts festival programme, and hopefully after these shows, they will continue to support us in our future shows.

Opera Rehearsal for "Butterfly Lovers"

Yesterday, we had our 2nd last rehearsal for "The Butterfly Lovers", which was to be staged next Sunday at Chong Pang Community Club. I haven't been attending rehearsals regularly due to me doing permanent afternoon shifts at work nowadays, and I am not able to get regular weekend offs.



Though it was just a week away from our performance, we're still not totally prepared, and we encountered hiccups along the way. Nevertheless, our leader did not flare up as much as in previous shows, hence the atmosphere during rehearsals was still calm. Lucky for us!



"The Butterfly Lovers" will be staged on 26th November 2006 at Chong Pang Community Club Multi-purpose Hall, 7.45pm. Admission to the show is free of charge, but members of the audience are to obtain admission ticket either from Hokkien Konghuay or Chong Pang Community Club directly. This performance is in conjunction with Northwest CDC Arts Festival

Singapore Hokkien Festival - Cultural Performance

The Singapore Hokkien Festival, organised by the Singapore Hokkien Huay Kuan, was was held at Bras Basah Complex last weekend. It is the first of such festival to be held locally, whereby different Hokkien groups like the southern Min (mainstream Hokkiens in Singapore), Fuzhou (Hockchew) and Putian (Henghua) get together to showcase their cultural essence. Other than having stalls selling traditional Fujian food at the festival venue, there was also a makeshift stage where different cultural performances like music, dance and opera were put up by various societies and performance troupes. Another event in conjunction with this Hokkien Festival was the cultural performance over at Drama Centre, just a street away, which showcased excerpts from classic shows of various Fujian opera genres.

Our troupe was one of the participating troupes, and we were scheduled to staged 2 shows, "The Street Paddler" and "The Storm Pavillion", at the makeshift stage on Saturday afternoon. The weather was still clear when "The Street Paddler" was being staged, but by the end of it, the sky turned dark, and it started to rain heavily. The rain was so heavily that even the ground got flooded and our percussionist had to stand on her feet to play her music! I joked that this was one of our most "successful" version of "The Storm Pavillion", as we had got real rain to compliment our sound effect. If we'd acted "Flooding the Golden Monastery", the effect would be even better! Jokes aside, it was tough acting in this kind of weather as the actors and musicians had to beat the rain in terms of volume, and I wonder if the audience downstage could hear us at all.

The rain was still pouring after both shows ended, but that was not the end of our work. We still had another performance at the Drama Centre, which was just across the street. Hence, we had to brave the rain in umbrellas while trying to avoid ruining our makeup and costumes. Over at the Drama Centre, there was another cultural performance in conjunction with this Hokkien Festival. This time round, fortunately, was an indoor performance. However, this Drama Centre performance was more stressful to me as compared to the outdoor one, as we would be acting alongside professional troupes from Fujian Province, among them were Experimental Major Liyuan Opera Troupe and Gao Jia Opera Troupe from Quanzhou, Experimental Minju Theatre from Fuzhou and Putian Academy of Arts. Though stressful, I was still excited in this performance, as I would have the chance to meet some of my favourite artistes like Zeng Jingping and Zhang Chunji from Quanzhou Experimental Major Liyuan Opera Troupe. I did not have time to interact with them on Saturday, but I managed to catch them during their afternoon break on the following day when I was not acting, and got them to autograph on my Liyuan opera DVD. They were very friendly and they left a great impression on me.

It was a great experience to perform together with these fine professional artistes, even though we may not be acting side by side at the same time. Hopefully there'll be a second year for this Festival, and that we would be able to meet up again, to interact and to perform together!