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Kevin Kwong

Lyric Theatre, Hong Kong

Academy for Performing Arts

Tomorrow  and Saturday,  7.45pm

Sunday  2.30pm

'Oh, mine, my heart sinks' is a line that Cantonese opera director Rex Ng Kwok- leung  has borrowed from a Mao Zedong   poem to publicise his latest production,  A Rose in a Tempest. It probably also sums  up his feelings when three of the six scheduled performances  were chopped because of a lack of funding.

'We didn't get any support from the government,' says one volunteer. 'So this show is mostly financed by the people involved and their  friends.'

Starring four Cantonese operatic veterans (Leung Hon-wai, Pak Suet-hung,  Hong Hai  and Cheng Wing-mui),  this Utopia Cantonese Opera Workshop production also  boasts stage actress Lo Koon-lan  as artistic director and  Hai Chung-man  (better known  as a film art director) as image designer. Rupert Chan Kwan-yun   translated the original script for  the surtitles. The opera marks the 50th anniversary of playwright Tong Tic-sang's  collection of works.

Tong was one of the best known and most prolific playwrights of his time, and his works - including Legend of the Purple Hairpin and Princess Cheung Ping - were performed by operatic  stars Yam Kim-fai  and Pak Suet-sin    in the 1950s and 60s.

A Rose in a Tempest is loosely based on  the tragic epic of Xi Shi (played by Pak), one  of the ancient Chinese Four Beauties, whose  looks  bring about the downfall of the  enchanted King Fu Chai (Leung), costing him his kingdom. The opera is performed in Cantonese with English surtitles.

1 Gloucester Rd, Wan Chai, $100-$320. Inquiries: 2880 9362



A Rose in a Tempest