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The Hung Ka Po Cantonese Opera Troupe will perform three masterpieces in shows to be presented by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department in March. One of the works is a new adaptation of "The Judge Goes to Pieces", while the other attractions are "The Hero's Blood on Mount Pipa" and "The Ten-year Dream". The cast members will include Lung Koon-tin, Nam Fung, Chan Hung-chun, Lui Hung-kwong, Cheng Wing-mui and Sun Kim-long.
The playwrights of the new adaptation of "The Judge Goes to Pieces" are Chan Hung-chun and Lai Yiu-wai. In the story, a woman, Madam Tian, eyes a family fortune and schemes with her husband to have the husband of Yang Xiuzhen killed. Xiuzhen escapes from home to seek help from her brother, but is betrayed. Xiuzhen is pregnant and, when she reaches a tea stand run by Song Shijie, Song's wife comes to her rescue and takes her home. Song Shijie used to be a minor legal practitioner before he retired and started to run an inn and the tea stand. His wife urges him to help reinstate Xiuzhen. Shijie makes Xiuzhen his sworn sister, then writes a petition on her behalf. However, the Commissioner's wife accepts a bribe and decides to incriminate Xiuzhen. Shijie, who already has the evidence of Madam Tian bribing an official in his hands, has the confidence of one who knows truth is on his side, and he delivers a scathing defence as well as accusations in a court attended by four titled scholars.
"The Hero's Blood on Mount Pipa" tells the story of the Guan family. Guan Dapeng is the commander of the troops at Shanhai Pass. Guan's elder son, Wenhu, is wilful and arrogant. To show off his bravery, Wenhu volunteers to attack the Hun troops, but his own troops are wiped out. Wenhu takes off his armour and pretends to be dead. Arriving with reinforcements, his father and his brother Wenju believe Wenhu is dead. Obeying his father's orders, Wenju marries his brother's lover, Xiaoju. The next year, at the banquet celebrating the birth of their baby boy when he is a month old, Wenhu appears. Just then, an imperial envoy arrives and announces that Wenju has been promoted to general in place of his brother. Wenhu is enraged and decides to challenge Wenju to a duel on Mount Pipa. As they are fighting, a Hun general launches an attack, vowing to kill Wenju. Wenhu is wounded by a spear as he tries to protect his younger brother, and soon Wenhu decides to repent for his past misdeeds.
"The Ten-year Dream" tells a story involving General Yang Yue of the Sui dynasty. He leads his troops against the state of Chen and kills the king. The king's sister, Princess Lechang, devises a plan with her husband, Xu Deyan, for the survival of the lineage. Disguising himself as a staff officer, the husband takes a copy of the royal genealogy to Liang, and they each take one half of a mirror as a token of their future reunion. Yang Yue is filled with admiration and pity for Princess Lechang, and he decides to take her as his wife and adopt her child. Nine years later, while at a market purchasing old mirrors, Xu Deyan meets his son. Learning about his wife and son, he decides to reunite with them. Although they still recall the days when they were a couple, they find it hard to rekindle their love because of the changed circumstances. Learning that the ex-husband is still alive, Yang Yue offers to abdicate, and Lechang, torn between the two men she loves, considers her fate.
Details of the performances are as follows:
"The Judge Goes to Pieces - A New Adaptation"
March 25 and 26 (Wednesday and Thursday), 7.30pm
Theatre, Ko Shan Theatre
"The Hero's Blood on Mount Pipa"
March 27 (Friday), 7.30pm
Auditorium, Tsuen Wan Town Hall
"The Ten-year Dream"
March 28 (Saturday), 7.30pm
Auditorium, Tai Po Civic Centre
Tickets priced from $100 to $300 are now available at URBTIX. Half-price tickets are available for senior citizens aged 60 or above, people with disabilities and their minders, full-time students and Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) recipients (limited tickets for full-time students and CSSA recipients are available on a first-come, first-served basis).
For programme enquiries, please call 2268 7325 or visit www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/CulturalService/Programme/en/chinese_opera/program_714.html. For telephone credit card bookings, please call 2111 5999. For Internet bookings, please visit www.urbtix.hk.
A post-performance talk (to be conducted in Cantonese) will be held at 2.30pm on April 11 (Saturday) at AC1, Level 4, Administration Building, Hong Kong Cultural Centre. Speakers will include Lung Koon-tin, Nam Fung, Chan Hung-chun and Lai Yiu-wai. Admission is free. Limited seats will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Ends/Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Issued at HKT 10:01
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