Opera GODs in play

This afternoon , I went for lunch with my friend , ES and at the front of the restaurant , there was a stage.  After I sat down with ES, we start to order the food, then suddenly, there was loud bangs on the gongs and ancient Teochew music starts to play. It was quite loud and from the stage appeared all the costume guys and girls with their face beautifully painted.  These are the Chinese opera actors or actress.

These stage shows was once very common during my parent's era and there were plentiful in Penang and also near the place I was born and breed especially on the birthdays of the deities.  The Deities are Taoist Gods and the actors and actress dressed up like them and they will act out an episode from an ancient script.

These stage shows used to come in different packages  ie  Teochew, Hokkien , Cantonese ,etc  and it used to be very costly to stage such shows because of the skill in martial art, singing and acting.  In the movies, the actors and actress can repeat their acts if they are NG ( rejected) but for these opera singers, they are a live act. Just like the boardway live shows.  If the actors or actress are not skillful , they could disrupt the act or caused the whole play to be in a mes.  The precision in the music, singing and acting is very much needed to make the live shows reached a professional stage and meaningful.

The skill and the art is a dying breed and it is alot of hard work to preserve the strength and skill to do these live shows.  Because of its high standard needed, the actors and actress have opted for easier jobs and higher pay elsewhere.

For me, it was a walk back into the past where these musics are so familar to my ears and these live shows is part of  my life.  But, time have move on but it is wonderful to see that these acts are still on the streets.  Bravo to all these guys and gals who still make these acts relevant to keep local Chinese cultures.

Keep it up and long live the live shows.

Namaste.