At the Height of His Career

A new chapter in Lam Kar Sing’s performing career was opened in 1962 when he and actress Chan Ho Kau became the man mou sang and fa dan (principal male and female roles) of the Hing Sun Sing Opera Troupe, a full-scale performing company. Tsui Tsi Long, a noted librettist and playwright at that time, wrote many new plays with roles that were specifically tailored for Lam and that were to form his best-known repertoire, including The Sounds of Battle, Paragons of Heroism and Celestials Bestow Their Blessings. However, Lam found that he could not pursue his vision of artistic excellence at the troupe, as it came into conflict with the impresario’s commercial orientation, and he left after performing The Two Heroes Thrice Claim the Phoenix Flute in 1965.

The following year, Lam formed the Chung Sun Sing Opera Troupe with the impresario Yuen Yiu Hung, who shared his passion for promoting the legacy of Cantonese opera. Yuen encouraged him to implement a number of costly measures, such as full rehearsals and post-performance brainstorming sessions, with the aim of making each show better than the last. The troupe’s highly successful productions included Uproar in Jade Hall, A Chronicle Written in Blood, Torn between Love and Hate, A Warrior Couple Contending for Supremacy. 1966 was a socially turbulent year in Hong Kong, but the troupe still drew considerable audiences thanks to the well-written plots and librettos and the high production standards of their shows.

Lam and Lee Bo Ying entered into a new partnership in 1968, forming the Kar Bo Opera Troupe, which endured for four years. During this time, Lam made another breakthrough on stage when he played the title role in Lam Chung, which called for a new characterisation and plenty of martial arts skills – a persona that was far removed from the intellectual, debonair scholar that Lam had been associated with so far. It thus added a new character role to Lam’s repertoire.

In the 1970s, Cantonese opera was buffeted by the emergence of new forms of entertainment. In a bid to inject new energy into the genre, Lam brought back the Chung Sun Sing Opera Troupe in 1971 as a platform for upholding and improving the art of Cantonese opera. Lam played an active part in creating scripts in order to expand the troupe’s repertoire. Outstanding examples included Chu Pin, A Loyal Minister of Sung and The Jade Disc, which differed from previous versions as Lam introduced more martial arts into these ‘civil’ plays, Bloody River, which was given a new twist by the adoption of many elements of a drama production, as well as Torn between Love and Vengeance, a story of swordsmanship and chivalry, the fairytale A Journey among Immortals and Lam Chung the Fugitive, which was adapted from the classic play. Chung Sun Sing folded when Lam retired from the stage in 1993, but it is still remembered as a leading name and highly influential troupe in the history of Cantonese opera.