Chinese (read: not Thai) Opera

It was colourful. It was loud. But it was so, so bad.

Let me back up a bit. When a friend told me about the Chinese opera taking place in the city, I agreed that we should check it out. The outdoor stage was buried behind some side streets, right where I would never have found it, with about 100 plastic chairs in front. Pretty much everyone in those chairs turned to stare at me and my friend as we walked in. Unashamedly. I'm used to a few stares from my time in Japan, but this is a whole new level.


The show had already started, but it was a pretty casual atmosphere so we took a seat. In fact, half of the crowd was talking at any stage throughout the performance. I'm told Thais are known notoriously for this in the classroom too - chatting rather than paying attention. Wish me luck there.


One of the first acts we witnessed was an old guy with a mask walking around in a fancy costume. For about 5-6 minutes he did nothing but walk around. Then the music changed and this is what happened - pay close attention to his mask.


I didn't understand the storyline - mostly because it was in Chinese, but also because I kept being distracted by other things. Now don't get me wrong: the lead performers were very, very good. And their costumes and make-up were bright and eye-pleasing. But I could see straight through the curtains to backstage, where off-stage performers were milling about and getting changed. And then there were these guys, still rehearsing just minutes before they were due on stage.


To add to my distractions, there was a confectioner making coloured pastes and moulding them into shapes. Once the candy-paste was ready, he'd roll it into a ball and place a tube in the middle of it. Next, he'd enclose the ball with a wooden mould (such as a Doraemon) and pump air through the tube, inflating the candy-paste to fit the shape of the mould. Then he'd carefully remove the mould, replace the tube with a stick, and voilà ! A cute candy-on-a-stick!


To me it just looked like coloured sugar, but there were kids crowded around the poor man all night. This made him very busy and made it difficult for me to take a decent photo.

Meanwhile, back on stage, apart from the leads, no one really knew what they were doing. Dancers lost time and had to check the other dancers to see what they were doing; the narrator spoke over the actors; the leads were telling the extras on stage what to do (see photo - I realised shortly after taking this that the extra was being instructed to remove the woman's hat). One man was so occupied giving instructions that he missed his cue and came into the song late.


It was disorganised at times, but the core of the production was good. I actually enjoyed watching it all unfold. But I know I would've enjoyed it more if the volume on the speakers hadn't been turned up to EAR-BUSTING. If it was done to keep everyone's attention, it didn't work.