Singing the joys of Cantonese opera

Cantonese opera is still alive and well.

At Sok Ku Wan on Lamma, a huge bamboo theatre is erected every year and a Cantonese theatre troupe arrives with its tragic tales of star-crossed lovers, generals, mandarins and concubines, some parts delivered in high falsetto, accompanied by percussion and erhu.

At the back of the theatre, tanned, wrinkled ladies in pyjama-type suits and gold earrings have a good – and usually loud - catch-up with their friends while expertly chewing on sunflower seeds. People wander in and out over the three-hour performance.

The scene is repeated at Shek O, Junk Bay and other venues across the city.

In the northern New Territories at Kam Tin, every 10 years a festival is held to honour the ancestors and burn effigies. On the first night a theatre designed to hold thousands of people is empty. Or is it? – the opera troupe is playing to the ghosts.

Stella Ma Man-har loves Cantonese opera. Over the years she has provided tours for tourists, including dressing up in Cantonese opera costumes and full make-up. But more importantly, Ma has been central to keeping the tradition alive in Hong Kong’s youth.

When she’s not fighting for government funding, Ma heads off to primary schools to try and light up children’s minds with the magic of the theatre. Even if they think it sounds like screeching and crashing of cymbals, at least they’ll have had the opportunity to hear it, an opportunity she feels was denied to her generation.