Beware of the harmless and comical character who can also become a sinister figure
Be careful around those who make you laugh. In Beijing Opera, the comic actor Chou, marked with a white mask that covers the bridge of the nose, can be the most harmless character on stage - or the most dangerous.
The Hong Kong Arts Festival will present Story of the Clay Pot, Assassination of Tang Qin, Conflicts between the Baos and Luos, and Red Mulberry Town to commemorate the life and achievement of Chou master Xiao Changhua (1878-1967) on the 130th anniversary of his birth. These plays will be performed by The Peking Opera House of Beijing.
Chou has been recognised as the most important thread of acting in Chinese opera. There is an old saying in the industry: 'No Chou, no opera!'
The role of Chou is an element of satire and conflicts, according to Zheng Yan - a student of master Xiao's son Xiao Shengxuan - who is going to play the Chou role in two of the Beijing dramas.
In the Story of the Clay Pot, Zheng, 66, will act as Zhang Biegu, a poor, kind old man who is given a pot as payment for a debt and the pot is possessed by the ghost of a murdered man. Zhang takes the clay pot to the government adjudicator to help the spirit resolve his unfinished business.
In Assassination of Tang Qin, Zheng will play another Chou role, Tang Qin, as a hypocritical intellectual who murders another man to court and marry his concubine. Tang is murdered by the woman on their wedding night before she takes her own life.