Traditional Nuo opera repertoire

There are not many performances of Nuo opera, and the content is relatively simple, which is mostly related to religion and exorcism. Generally speaking, it comes from two aspects: one is the need to pray for God; The second is to perform some plays that have nothing to do with the ritual of praying for God from the needs of entertaining God and others. Nuo opera can be divided into eight endings and eight endings. "Zhengba Opera" is a witchcraft ceremony, while "Waiba Opera" is a drama with a plot and a series of dramas.

Generally speaking, Nuo opera can be divided into three categories:

One kind is original drama, which requires wizards to sing, such as The Fairy Delivers the Son, The Land of Liangshan, Fa Wu Cang and so on. These plays have strong religious colors, simple plots, many masks and many witchcraft.

Secondly, Tang Nuo plays can be performed on Nuo stage and high stage. For example, picking incense, making clouds and dragging, that is, releasing grain in Chen Zhou, Qingjiazhuang and other places. This kind of drama is less religious, but more secular and entertaining. It is often manifested in the singing part of legal procedures, and there are certain procedures and certain plate changes in singing.

Thirdly, some dramas are called Taiwanese dramas, such as Meng Jiangnv, Ponzi Daughter and Dragon King Daughter (also known as Liu Yichuan or Riding a Dragon into the Sea). People often play with three girls: the daughter of the Dragon King, the daughter of Meng Jiangnu and the daughter of Ponzi (the story of Jiang's filial son and his wife Ponzi in the Eastern Han Dynasty). In addition, there are some repertoires based on the Biography of Mu Lian, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms and the story of The Journey to the West. This kind of play is highly dramatic. Generally speaking, Nuo opera has many vocals and few words, but there are also some hundred operas. The performance is mainly in local dialects, vivid and simple.