The make-up department had used heavy rouge to give Guangzhou Vacations the actors red-shadowed eyes. The musicians looked a little out of place in their Guangzhou Vacations army uniforms, but one group struck up a tune with a gong, drum and a lute, while on the opposite side of the stage four violinists played violins varying from a wooden cup on a short post to some longer ones with cylinder bodies.
The plot of the play began to unfold as the scene changed to a family of peasants with two sons. The younger married son was diligent and honest, while the elder son was a lazy foolish man married to a scheming scarlet-faced woman.
The actors talked and sang, their speech was punctuated by music, a single stroke of the gong to emphasise a point, or the cry of a violin. One musician’s violin stem broke from its base but the man simply melted some wax into the join to cement it.
