Yao Sing Po Production Company Ltd. (Hong Kong)
Sunday, March 7, 2004 20:00
Cinema Alegria
King Lei Kuong is an outstanding work of Cantonese
opera inspired by Shakespeare’s King Lear. The age that provides the
historical backdrop for Shakespeare’s tragedy bears striking similarities to
China’s Warring States Period (475-221 B.C.), when warriors roamed the land and
the ruling House of Zhou was in decline. The endless warring, conquests,
slaughter and power struggles of King Lear’s time and Lear’s own personal trials
and tribulations were the perfect source material for the story of the embattled
monarch of the opera King Lei Kuong.
The opera takes place in the latter part of the Warring
States Period. A sudden rise in the might of the State of Zhou made it one of
the few kingdoms able to counterbalance the power of the State of Qin. The
elderly Zhou monarch, King Lei Kuong, hopes some day to pass his throne on to
his son. In an effort to bequeath a prosperous and peaceful kingdom, he takes
personal control of all the affairs of state. Sadly, open strife and veiled
struggle within the royal family combine with the complex geopolitics of the
times to render the king’s efforts fruitless. The kingdom of Zhou is eventually
swallowed and King Lei Kuong’s family line ends.
Main performers: Yau Sing Po (King Lei Kuong); Law Kar Ying (Kuai
Chong); Wan Fan Yin (Si Sut Kei); Yuen Siu Fai (Iao Fong); Tang
Mi Ling (Concubine Loi); Sun Kim-Long (Pak Kei)
Producer: Yau Sing Po
Playwright: Law Kar Ying, Qin Zhong Ying
Artistic director: Liu Xun
(Chinese, Portuguese and English surtitles)
This programme is the result of cooperation between Canton,
Hong Kong and Macao and is presented with the assistance and cooperation of the
Hong Kong Leisure and Cultural Services Department.
