29/1/2008

staged a few months of performances in Thailand. Then, one of my sister’s friends managed to get a set of video tapes of 五 龙 会 or later known as 五子挂帅. We were excited to watch the video although the quality was not very good. We waited patiently for her arrival as the market in Singapore is not big compared to Thailand.

Teochew Street Opera And Hungry Ghost Festival - 1

街戏与庆中元

During the lunar 7th month hungry ghost festival in the l970s, I would go out for wayang performance if there were opera troupes performing in the nearby blocks. How did i get to know the details? You wondered. During that time, the organisers would paste a red A1 size red flyer/poster stating the dates, the name of troupe and the location. We would definitely go out if the performances took place over the weekends. You could still find such A1 poster nowadays but is confined to areas in the market place.

There was a wet market located at Lorong 4 Toa Payoh between Block 92 and Block 95. It was a regular place for street opera. We went there very often as it was very near our flat. I remembered watching 刘璋下山 and 雷峰塔 (Madam White Snake) by 老正天香潮剧团.

For 刘璋下山, we waited patiently till close to 10 pm to see the actress who played the male lead 刘璋. My eldest sister was with us and she knew the plot very well. The first two hours featured how the Han Emperor struggled to retain power and how 刘璋 escaped from death when he was a small boy. Then 刘璋 grew up and was trained by his master to be a very skillful swordsman. Unfortunately, he was inexperienced and saved his enemies instead and later had to behead his father to gain trust from the Empress. 陈 楚 蕙 also performed the role as 刘璋 in the movie 刘璋下山 with 曾珊凤. These two photos of 陈楚蕙 were taken when she peformed in the then Palace cinema in Katong more than 2 decades ago. I heard she regretted having performed there because many fans did not find the location convenient and she must have reaped in the least profit for the time and effort put in.

Many opera troupes like 老玉春香潮剧团, 新一天彩潮剧团, 新荣和兴潮剧团 also performed at the market place at Lorong 4 Toa Payoh. When there were opera performances, the place was very packed and one could hardly move.

was always opened. I saw many mature aunties sighing and cursing. So, boh pian loh, cannot go in mah

backstage was locked. This was unusual as in the past, whenever there was a performance by Chor Hwee, the door to the back stage was always opened. I saw many mature aunties sighing and cursing. So, boh pian loh, cannot go in mah

when the MCs appeared. The male MC, Niu Ma Ding (牛马丁) was doing a fair job because he could speak Teochew and amuse the  in  1997  sata  tug  jui  gi

thailand

when the MCs appeared. The male MC, Niu Ma Ding (牛马丁) was doing a fair job because he could speak Teochew and amuse the audience but I bet he was not very familiar with Teochew opera. It was unbelievable to notice that his counter part, the female MC, could not even speak the Teochew dialect. She said fragmented words