Veteran local Cantonese opera stars to showcase art of wusheng roles at Chinese Opera Festival

The Chinese Opera Festival (COF) 2023, presented by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, will bring together an array of well-known local Cantonese opera stars to stage a four-day program, "The Art of Wusheng Roles in Cantonese Opera", starting from July 13.

Renowned wusheng artist Liu Kwok-sum is the Artistic Director, and he will join a star-studded cast including Lee Lung, Wan Fai-yin, Lui Hung-kwong, Chan Ka-ming, Yuen Siu-fai and others to reprise selected exemplary wusheng plays of the late "King of the Wusheng Role" Lan Chi Pak, offering the audience an excellent opportunity to experience the intricate artistry of wusheng characterisation in Cantonese opera.

Wusheng (martial male) roles call for much emphasis on singing, delivery of lines, stylised movements and eye expressions, all of which require solid martial arts skills. Most wusheng roles in Cantonese opera are middle-aged or elderly characters, distinguished by the actors wearing a long beard, hence they are also known as "xusheng" (bearded male). Beard maneuvering skills are used in the rendering of many wusheng characters to express emotions. As for singing, a robust vocalisation called "baqiang" (also known as "dahou") and "roudaizuo" are used to show that the character is a man who has seen the ways of the world, thus injecting into the character a unique depth in the performance.

The first performance of "The Art of Wusheng Roles in Cantonese Opera" will start with the traditional set piece "Prime Minister of Six States", featuring the miming of "riding a chariot" by the character Gongsun Yan that will be performed by Liu Kwok-sum with the stylized routines taught hands-on by his mentor Lan Chi Pak. The excerpt "Beating Hands" from "Wang Baochuan" highlights the performing routine "three hand claps to sever blood ties" that performers in wusheng roles use quite often to express the breaking up between father and daughter. In "Judge Bao's Night Trial of Guo Huai", the character of Judge Bao (hualian, literally "painted face") will be played by wusheng that features many stylised movements and singing in a deep voice. At the second performance, the act "Burying the Horse" from "Contention for the Seal" has rarely been staged over the last 20 years.

This time the entire act in the original script will be staged, showcasing the various detailed routines for interpreting the emotions of the character, who has no choice but to kill his beloved horse and buries it under a cliff. The third performance will stage the classic play "Death of a Loyal Warrior", in which wusheng will play the lead role in the two acts "Forcing His Son to Get onto the Saddle" and "Killing His Own Son" to revive the stage directions and stylised movements that were devised, rehearsed and performed by Lan Chi Pak. At the final performance, the character of Yan Song in "The Impeachment of Yan Song" will be played by wusheng, as in the early practice. In the court scene of the play, the actor playing Yan Song will perform the miming of "sitting with an imposing air on the chair", with actions need to be in sync with the percussion cues and supported by the waist and the thighs, showcasing the solid skills and physical strength of the actor.