Watching My First Teochew Opera Performance This Lunar 7th Month
观赏2009年庆中元的第一场潮剧演出



已经将近一年没观看织云潮剧团的演出。通过织云潮剧团的戏友，阿弟，才知道织云潮剧团在农历7月的前几天在西部多个地区演出,要等到农历7月11和12日才会到宏茂桥10道演出。 刚好农历7月11日是星期日，而且当晚没分两台，想必应该有看头。

农历7月11日一早细雨下个不停，接近中午时分驾车去寻找戏台。刚好大哥住在宏茂桥10道，就上他家拜访，过后打电话给阿弟才知道原来是在大牌536演出。终于找到戏台了，织云潮剧团刚好在演出六国封相的扮大仙。于是，致电给年轻朋友Terence,告诉他演出地点。 那天下午一直在回想上回和几个泰国演员聊天的情景，想到晚上会再一次见到他们，高兴不已。晚上和Terence 一起观看演出，也碰到阿弟。

怎么没有演出新戏呢？‘赵氏孤儿’这部戏已经演过很多次了呀！哎呀!那几位泰国演员跑去哪里了？温赛真，亚达和他的老婆，阿陆，谢妙珍等人呢！真的好失望哦！还好有老生钟喜坤和碧芳，也有老赛桃源潮剧团的演员参加演出。老生钟喜坤今晚的声线很不错，毕竟已经71岁了，真难的。阿弟对我说织云潮剧团和老赛桃源潮剧团有好多个晚上都没有接到演出的合约，所以有时他们两个团体会联合演出。听了真的不敢相信，想当年潮剧团在农历7月的档期是排的满满的，不提早签约是请不到他们的，现在还有空档。不知这几个职业潮剧团可以支撑到几时？。

It has been close to a year since I last watched Chek Hoon Teochew Opera Troupe performed at Siew Teck Temple at Lorong 5 Toa Payoh. On the eve of the lunar 7th month, I called Ah Di, a fan of Chek Hoon, to enquire about the schedule. As usual, the first few days of the performance were concentrated at locations in the West like outside NTU and Padan Valley. The nearest venue would be at Ang Mo Kio on the 11th and 12th day of the lunar 7th month which was 30 and 31 Aug 09, respectively. 30 Aug 09 happened to be a Sunday. It was a great opportunity to watch this troupe again. Ah Di told me for these 2 days, the troupe did not split into 2 troupes. So, I would expect a good show.

I told Terence about the schedule and promised to provide more details so that he could find the location. On Sunday, it started to rain early in the morning and was still drizzling close to noon. I decided to drive to recce the place the place in advance. I ended up at Blk 575, Ang Mo Kio Avenue 10. So, I went to pay a visit to my eldest brother. Then, I called Ah Di and he told me it was at Blk 536. I managed to locate the stage at about 20 minutes past noon. Then, I saw the afternoon performance where Chek Hoon was staging the ceremonial performance. I stood there for a while and called Terence to inform him about the details.

That afternoon, I tried to recall those actors and actresses from Thailand whom I met last year. I missed them quite a lot. I told myself I must catch up with them and have a good chat. I left home at about 7 pm to meet up with Terence. To my disappointment, Chek Hoon put up 'The Orphan of Zhao'. I also noticed that many familiar faces were gone. Luckily, Cheng Hee Koon and Pheck Huang acted that evening. Ah Di told me Chek Hoon did not have full booking this lunar 7th month. At some locations, Chek Hoon will combine with Lao Sai Tor because that troupe had even less performance contract this year. My goodness. Gone are the days where organisers must booked them well in advance or else they would be fully booked. I wonder when all the local teochew opera troupes would fold up one day. It may be soon.

Blog! Blog! Blog!

From Yahoo Blog - Tudou - Youtube - Sina Blog

It is great to get to know so many fans and friends who like to watch Chinese opera. I must really thank them for surfing my blogs and websites. Many of them even exchanged emails with me. I have many local and overseas friends whom I got to know after I started to blog and upload video clips on youtube, tudou and baidu. My attempts to blog at Yahoo and Sina have also been rewarding.

I am always ready to share my collections of video clips, VCDs and photos with friends. I even cut VCDs for friends and artistes. Most of them are very appreciative of my efforts and time spent. In return, some even bought VCDs for me when they travelled overseas to Swatow. Others would not heistate to share their collections of mp3 with me or even spent precious time to record the cassette tapes into mp3 for me. I really appreciate their kindness and thoughtfullness.

It is important for people to give and take. If one resort to taking advantage and always take but never give, then, it is quite meaningless to share with such people. I did came across someone who persistently emailed for some opera collections but never showed face when it was time to collect the VCDs and sent someone instead. Then, the contact discontinued though you could see the person on line sometimes but your emails would get ignored despite giving the person the VCDs free of charge. Really sad to know such people but a lesson learned.

It is lunar seventh month now and there are many opportunities to watch street opera performance. Although the standard of performance has deteriorated compared to the late 60's and early 70's, some opera to watch is better than none.

Will upload more video clips if I have time to watch street opera performance this month. Due to the double lunar 5th month this year, children are having examinations now and my presence at home to support them takes priority over street operas. Will upload more video clips and photos if I have the time to watch street opera performance later this week.

再‘战’土豆

好久没在这里挂短片了。原因之一是有时上传的时间太长，一个少过十分钟的短片，怎挂也挂不了，可能是豆花太少吧。

最近在北京进修时尝试观赏自己挂在其他网页的潮剧短片时碰到一些小问题，于是决定再花一点时间把2008年和2009年上半年所拍摄和制作的潮剧短片挂上土豆，与大家分享。

先挂上2008年香港潮剧小生王陈楚蕙在新加坡演出的艺术演唱会。短片有‘严兰贞’，‘十八相送’，‘红鬃烈马’和‘陈楚蕙艺术演唱会精选’，也挂上音频配上演出照片和旧电影照片。 音频有‘戏剧人生’，‘孟丽君之游园’， ‘扫窗会’和‘春香传’。 接着是中国福建省云霄潮剧团演出的‘杜金娥’，‘穆桂英招亲’，‘狄青刀劈王天化’，‘魏宫风云’，‘帝后春秋’，‘扮大仙’，‘陆文龙’和‘汤艺勇专辑’。


上个星期花了不少时间挂上了新加坡织云潮剧团去年农历七和八月在新加坡演出的片段。演出的剧目有‘潇湘秋雨’，‘狸猫换太子（上下集）’，‘桃花过渡’，‘包公斩皇亲’，‘铁面巡按’，‘六国大封相’， ‘三哭殿’和‘霸王别姬’。也将会挂上了中国潮州市潮剧团去年在新加坡演出的精彩短片如折子戏‘晨钟惊梦’，‘蓝关雪’，‘沈园绝唱’和‘梨园群英会’，‘天之娇女’和‘哑女告状’。

接下来会陆陆续续挂上在2008年11月在汕头潮剧节演出的短片如：交响音乐会的‘春风践约到园里’， ‘王金龙’，‘此恨绵绵天地间’，香港潮商互助社演出的‘楼台会’，‘花园订约’， ‘芦林会’，‘回书’，‘三官廟’，广东潮剧院一团的‘东吴郡主’，广东潮剧院二团的‘石榴花’，‘龙凤环’和‘血溅南梁宫’，广东潮剧院三团的‘弘治登基’和‘刘秀复国’，潮州市潮剧团 的‘穆桂英招亲’ ，‘乾坤宝镜’和‘晋宫风云’，福建云宵潮剧团 的‘金玉良缘’和‘太子登基’。

由于是用数码相机拍摄的，所以只能拍一部分的演出。有时因为人多或座位不理想，排得摇摇晃晃。因为自己非常喜爱观赏潮剧演出，也知道有些潮剧爱好者可能没机会看到一些演出，所以才花时间制作短片并把片子挂上土豆，和大家分享演出的片段，希望大家会喜欢。