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.