Growing Up With Teochew Opera - 2

First Encounter With Street Opera In Johore - 2

与潮并长

I remembered watching a performance 李陵与苏武 by 新荣和兴潮剧团. I was too young to understand the performance. I was present simply because it was a rare event. The place was so crowded. My mum told me many people were very pleased with the well written script and fine performance. In Mar 2006, I bought a set of Chinese books which documented the history between Spring and Autumn Warring States and 5 dynasties and 10 kingdoms. I had an opportunity to have a better understanding of the plot 李陵与苏武.

There was another troupe called 织云潮剧团. My mum and eldest sister were fans to one of the actress who performed the role as male lead. They cooked dinner especially for her at our place. How did they get to know the actress? You may wonder! Well that was quite easy. They approached them when they were resting at the back stage. Think this particular actress was more approachable and they also liked her more than others. My mum also told me this particular actress was a relative of one of the villagers. The feeling of the presence of an actor or actress in our home was great. The actress did not stay too long as she had to leave for her make up for the evening performance

Fans in the 1960s to 1980s were of comparable standards like those who loved Taiwan’s 甄珍 and 林青霞 or Hong Kong’s heavenly king Andy Lau. Besides watching the opera troupes performing during the various festive seasons and birthdays of gods and deities, they would hesitate to pay to watch their performances at funfair or in amusement parks. I came across an article on 新荣和兴潮剧团 from the website on Singapore History Museum. Below is a typical opera poster of the 1950s and 1960s that provides information on the troupe, venue, story and casts. It features 新荣和兴潮剧团 having a four-day performance at the then New World Amusement Park in Jalan Besar. In the early days, the longest a troupe could stay in amusement park is about a week before they moved to temples and other theatres. The attractions to the opera did not rely solely on the casts or the stories. Backdrops played an important role too. This is clearly reflected in the poster that they had hired the famous backdrop artist to add more colours to the opera.