To complement the upcoming Chinese Opera Festival (COF) 2023 programme "Blessing This Land – Cantonese Opera Showcase under the Bamboo Theatre at Victoria Park", the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) will hold three free talks in September to enable members of the public to have a better understanding of the artistic characteristics of bamboo theatre and Cantonese opera plays staged in bamboo sheds.
The bamboo shed theatre building technique is an Hong Kong's intangible cultural heritage (ICH) item of traditional craftsmanship, while Cantonese opera was inscribed onto the first national list of ICH and the UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity and became the city's first world ICH item. The three talks organised by the LCSD will introduce the building technique of local bamboo theatre from multiple perspectives and the legacy of opera in the bamboo theatre and invite renowned Cantonese opera artists to share anecdotes during performances in bamboo theatres. Details are as follows:
Constructing a Theatre with Bamboo Scaffoldings
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Date and time: September 2 (Saturday) 3pm
Speaker: Cheung Suet-ying (bamboo theatre construction project manager)
Moderator: Sun Kim Long
Opera in the Bamboo Theatre – Legacy of Ritualistic Cantonese Opera of Hong Kong
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Date and time: September 9 (Saturday) 3pm
Speaker: Chan Sau-yan
Trivia during Performances under the Bamboo Big Top
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Date and time: September 16 (Saturday) 3pm
Speaker: Loong Koon-tin
Moderator: Ip Sai-hung
The above-mentioned talks will be conducted in Cantonese at AC1, 4/F, Administration Building, Hong Kong Cultural Centre. Admission is free with limited seats available on a first-come, first-served basis. For details, please call 2268 7325 or visit www.cof.gov.hk/2023/en/blessthisland.html.
Organised by the LCSD, the COF has curated quality operatic programmes with the aim of promoting the artistry and culture of Chinese traditional opera since its inception in 2010. The grand finale of the COF 2023, "Blessing This Land – Cantonese Opera Showcase under the Bamboo Theatre at Victoria Park", will be staged from September 23 to October 8. A large-scale bamboo theatre will be erected at Victoria Park, where four local Cantonese opera troupes will stage multiple exciting repertoires by renowned artists, bringing back the local culture of bamboo theatre in urban areas of the past, and celebrating the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival with well wishes for the prosperity and peace of Hong Kong. For more information, please visit the above mentioned website.
The LCSD has all along promoted Chinese history and culture. Apart from the bamboo theatre performance, the Mid-Autumn Lantern Carnivals 2023 with fascinating programmes will be held in Victoria Park, Sha Tin Park and Tuen Mun Park from September 23 to October 2. Meanwhile, the Chinese Film Panorama 2023 will be launched on September 27. Members of the public can make use of these occasions to learn more about the characteristics of the Chinese culture.
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