▌中文  

 

 

        Liu Zhi-Jie had his daughter Liu Jin-Fung engaged to Zhao Xu, but as Zhao’s family fortune declined, Liu Zhi-Jie began to have regrets about the match. Jin-Fung, however, does not want to follow her father’s order to break the engagement, and she asks her maid He-Zhu to deliver some money to Zhao Xu. But He-Zhu does it by claiming to be Jin-Fung herself. When Liu Zhi-Jie finds out about this, he scolds his daughter in a fury. As a result, Jin-Fung jumps into the river to drown herself out of shame, and He-Zhu is forced to leave the family and live in a nunnery. Later, Zhao Xu returns after passing the exam and becoming an official. Again, He-Zhu claims to be Jin-Fung and marries Zhao Xu. After Liu’s house burns down in a fire, Liu Zhi-Jie is forced to live on the street with his servant, Zhao Wang. One day, Zhao Wang happens to meet Zhao Xu on the street, and Zhao Xu takes him in out of sympathy. When Zhao Wang gives his greetings to Zhao Xu’s wife, he recognizes that the woman is He-Zhu, who asks him not to reveal the truth. As soon as Zhao Wang returns to his master, he tells Liu Zhi-Jie about this and asks him not to tell the truth about He-Zhu pretending to be Jin-Fung. Jin-Fung, it turns out, has been saved after she jumped into the river, and she returns to see her parents. She condemns He-Zhu for assuming her identity, and Zhao Wang tries to mediate between the two women. In the end, Zhao Xu gets to marry both women, and Liu Zhi-Jie adopts Zhao Wang as his foster son. Everybody gets what they want for a happy ending.

 

        Life is full of unexpected twists and turns. The rich can become poor in a moment, and the poor may become rich, too. The Match of He-Zhu is an opera with such a theme. Though the story is rather complex, the performance normally starts with Liu Zhi-Jie encountering misfortune and then He-Zhu the maid pretends to be her mistress. Meanwhile, Zhao Wang the servant runs around and connects those who have lost contact with each other. What took place before can be easily figured out from this point on, and the plot presented on stage is thus simplified.

       He-Zhu is a huadan (lively female roles). When she puts on the bridal gown and the bridal headpiece, her lively and brisk attitude poses a contrast to her splendid and heavy clothes. Sometimes she is dignified and poised, but sometimes she is innocent and lovely, and she makes a lot of jokes. Liu Zhi-Jie, a laosheng (old male role), is so hungry that he becomes muddleheaded. Whenever he hears a line about food, he shouts about wanting to eat. Though we cannot witness the change he goes through from being rich to being poor on stage, his exaggerated reactions show how poverty can embarrass and humiliate a person. Zhao Wang the clown is the soul of this opera. He acts as a go-between from the beginning. First he makes an agreement with He-Zhu about not revealing her true identity. Then he brings Liu Zhi-Jie to Zhao Xu’s to meet He-Zhu. And finally, when He-Zhu’s true identity is revealed, he tries to mediate and give advice to every one. He has to talk to each character clearly and smoothly, and he has to be nimble to create fun during the performance, so whoever plays this role has to speak rhythmically. “Repetition” is another way of making this opera fun. For example, when Zhao Wang teaches He-Zhu how to act like a rich young lady, He-Zhu practices again and again but to no effect. Her efforts are really amusing. Moreover, as Liu Zhi-Jie thinks only about food, he cannot “perform perfectly” no matter how Zhao Wang instructs him about how to act. These repeated processes show the actors’ wonderful acting skills. In addition, the two elders in Zhoa Xu’s family are named “Cigarette Bag” (Yiandai) and “Partridge” (Anchun) according to the punning sounds of their titles, “Yuanwai” (Master) and “Anren” (Mistress). Yuanwai is played by a hualian (a role with a painted face) with the checked pattern of blue and white, and Anren is played by a clown with a stuffed belly like a veritable caidan (female clown role). The special features of the two provide the opera with yet another spectacle.