Hong Kong opera legend Law Kar-ying, 76, is excited about his upcoming performance in Seven Filial Kin , a Cantonese opera written nearly 300 years ago, but fears that the skills it demands from actors will die out after his generation. “The performance is 100 per cent improvised. The so-called ‘preparation’ dates back to our youth, when we were watching our elders interpret scenes and directions. The lyrics and melodies are accumulated from years of experience,” Law says. “If you don’t know how to improvise, you can’t perform [this type of opera]. You only learn how to do it through years of watching other people do it.” Full of dramatic twists and turns, Seven Filial Kin chronicles the story of a man who escapes an assassination attempt planned by his stepmother; his wife, who is falsely accused of causing the stepmother’s son to be attacked by a tiger; and his son, exiled as a result of the false accusations against his mother. The opera is taken from “The Eighteen Libretti”, a collection written and composed in China’s Guangdong province during the reign of the Qing dynasty emperor Qianlong, who ruled from 1735 to 1799. While many pieces from the collection are now lost, Seven Filial Kin remains popular with audiences in Hong Kong, partly due to a movie adaptation in the 1950s and a revival in the 1970s and ’80s by Law’s co-artistic director and fellow Cantonese opera veteran Sun Kim-long. (The two men will both play the lead role, swapping during the intermission of each of the three performances in June and July.) The 10 best movies from this year’s Cannes Film Festival “The play served as a ‘textbook’ for commoners in the olden days to learn about ethics and filial piety,” Law says. “It teaches people about loyalty in friendships and camaraderie of family.” It is still relevant today because these values will never go out of date, he adds. Actors have little to go on because the original material consists of only a list of main characters, a synopsis of each scene and notes about the musical accompaniment. These so-called “synopsis plays” require actors to baau tou , the technical term for making it up as you go along. Law comes from a family of Cantonese opera practitioners and learned the basics as a child before leaving school at the age of 10 to devote his life to the art form. He also branched out into show business and has appeared in over a hundred movies. These include the 1995 hit Summer Snow , directed by Ann Hui, for which he won best supporting actor at the Golden Horse awards (referred to by some as Asia’s Oscars). The actor, who overcame liver cancer in his late 50s, maintains that Cantonese opera is the most important part of his identity. “Cantonese opera is in my bones and in my blood,” he says. “Having inherited the art from my father, it is my duty to not let it disappear in my generation … I am doing all that I can to keep it alive and to promulgate it.” While there has been more interest and investment in the art form since Unesco added it to its “Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity” list in 2009, it has suffered from too many years languishing on the sidelines in Hong Kong, Law says. “Hong Kong has long adopted a Western education system – people looked to the West and learned ballet, violin, [Western] opera and stage play,” he says. “For some time, Cantonese opera has been disregarded and left to perish.” With industry veterans retiring, Law is urging the government to develop a long-term vision and objectives to preserve Cantonese opera to ensure that what was once one of the city’s staple art forms not become extinct. “The authorities seem to think that Cantonese opera actors can be trained within two or three years, like those in movies, television and stage plays, but that’s impossible for this art form,” Law says. “When [the veterans] die out, there will be no one to inherit it, and this is what I am most anxious about. “I’m in my 70s, how much longer can I wait?” The show is produced by the Chinese Artists Association of Hong Kong, also known as Barwo, which has been chaired by Law’s wife, the diva Liza Wang Ming-chun, since 2007. The production is one of a number of cultural performances marking the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to China. It also celebrates the 35th anniversary of the Tuen Mun Town Hall, which is the venue of its final performance. Seven Filial Kin, Xiqu Centre, West Kowloon Cultural District, June 2, 7.30pm and June 3, 2pm; Tuen Mun Town Hall, July 23, 2pm