The performance place of Cantonese opera

In the history of Cantonese opera, the performing places of Cantonese opera, like other operas in China, are constantly evolving. The performance places of Cantonese opera are generally divided into temporary theaters and permanent stages. In the Ming Dynasty, when people were well-off, big families would set up their own stage and recruit private theatrical troupes, while Huafeng stage in front of Foshan ancestral temple was a fixed stage for entertaining ordinary people. At the beginning of the 20th century (the early years of the Republic of China), Cantonese opera performances entered the theater. With the continuous improvement of facilities, the audience can enjoy Cantonese opera performances more comfortably. In the past, there were many famous theaters in Guangzhou, Foshan and Hong Kong, while there were Taiping Theatre, Goldman Sachs Theatre, Central Theatre, Puqing Theatre and Lee's Stage in Hong Kong, all of which witnessed the golden age of Cantonese opera in Hong Kong.

After World War II, playgrounds began to enter the life of Hong Kong people, and some famous playgrounds, such as Kai Tak Playground and Liyuan Playground, also became the performance venues of Cantonese Opera. When 199 1 demolished the Lee Stage and rebuilt it into the Lee Stage Square, Guangxin Theater became an important town of Cantonese opera. With the decline of Cantonese Opera in Hong Kong, Cantonese Opera Troupe mainly performs in Guangxin Theatre, Kwai Tsing Theatre and Gaoshan Theatre. The direction of the stage is divided into parts that talk to the background. These two entrances and exits are called Hudu Gate. The part of the stage close to the audience is called the mouth of the stage. The audience saw the position of the shed on the left side of the podium. Behind the shed is a handle box. The background position of the Hudu door adjacent to the handle box is called the main position. Opposite to the theme behind the scenes is the outline. Behind the scenes, except for a long corridor, there are all boxes, and at the end of the corridor is a greenhouse box. From the audience's point of view, the left side is called a miscellaneous edge, and a miscellaneous box is placed; The right side is called hem, put the suitcase. Hudu Gate is also called "crossing Gu Men" because "crossing" means crossing, just like the ancient word "crossing". Because actors used to play dead historical figures, Waijiang class called it "the gate of hell". The "outline position" near Hudu Gate is a "; Mention refers to stories, scenes, gongs and drums, ostentation and extravagance, role assignment, etc. Written briefly by the opening master as a reminder.

In the 1930s or before, people in the industry used to rely only on outline tips, without a detailed script, and the details of the story depended entirely on the way of performance, so it was called "outline play". Although it looks like a joke now, it can also be seen that Cantonese opera actors have profound skills. But then movies and paintings with voices landed in Guangzhou from the United States, which directly impacted Cantonese opera. Xue Juexian thinks that "outline play" is a bad performance habit. Therefore, Xue Juexian's constant pursuit of perfect scripts has promoted the rapid development of Cantonese opera.

There is no complicated real scene in the traditional stage, and the actors use their own figures, hands and lyrics to shape the activity space of the repertoire. The audience imagined it through the actor's performance. For example, the water flags and clouds used in "Jinshan Temple" are characterized by rough waves; The lanterns in A Dream in the Garden are vivid, romantic and solemn, which embodies Du Liniang's "love dream". Use two flags to indicate riding, and use hands to indicate riding and opening the door. There was no set in the early stage of Cantonese opera, and only one curtain was hung in the theater shed. Many times, the change of the position of one table and two chairs is used to symbolize different landscapes, such as courts, city walls, hills and so on.

At the beginning of the 20th century, influenced by drama, soft scenes made of cloth began to appear in Cantonese opera. City gates, gardens, palaces, mountains and rivers are all painted on canvas and hung on the canopy for setting. Then there was a hard scene made of wood. After the rise of provincial and port classes, three-dimensional scenery appeared on the stage. The staff used wood and cloth to form a three-dimensional set, including pavilions, rockeries, trees, halls and so on. Later, other actors even "Cosmic Lamp" and "Hanging Wire" also moved to the stage of Cantonese opera.

In 1930s and 1940s, Cantonese opera was also popular with institutional settings, in which actors and props could move, fall from the sky, take off and hide under the stage. In addition, there are some tricks to attract opera fans, such as spraying real water on the stage, installing light bulbs in helmets, and detonating kindling.