The Methodology of a Maestro

Lam Kar Sing’s dedicated pursuit of excellence in Cantonese opera was encapsulated in his four-point principle that could be summed up as ‘breadth, virtuosity, depth and innovation’.

For Lam, ‘breadth’ meant that the actor should keep his eyes and mind open and learn from different sources; he himself liked to watch other genres and sub-genres of traditional Chinese theatre, observing other actors in various roles in order to improve and augment his own performing idioms. Lam understood ‘virtuosity’ to be the continual exploration of every aspect of the art form in search of ways to improve, and he diligently pursued this goal throughout his career with the desire to make each libretto and each on-stage experience better than the last. In his concept of ‘depth’, Lam expected an actor to understand his stage persona in order to present a rounded character, while in his idea of ‘innovation’ he insisted on adding new ideas and acting methods to each performance.

The core of Chinese operatic performance consists of singing, acting, delivery lines as well as martial arts, and Lam never stopped practising these four technical aspects. He received singing lessons from many teachers throughout his career and never ceased his efforts to improve his vocal and tonal delivery; this involved breathing control, accuracy in pitch and tempo, the enunciation of each word, the design of vocal styles and the expression of emotions. The stringent standard he set for himself in this respect means his discography was limited to only around 30 albums, despite half a century of rich and diverse experience in the performing arts. In acting, Lam stressed that the groundwork had to be laid first, with the actor then working his way up from there; this involved creating gait and movements based on the storyline and paying particular attention to the hands, the body, the eyes and facial expressions. Following his mentor Sit Kok Sin’s instruction, Lam closely observed the people he met in everyday life so that he could draw on true and vivid details when interpreting different characters. Delivery lines is known to be even more demanding than singing. The actor needs to have immaculate control over the speed, the rhythm, the volume and the pitch of each enunciated phrase or word, and Lam took elocution lessons to refine his technique here. He also took the basic skills of martial arts highly seriously, making a point of practising two to three hours a day from the very outset of his career. He received training in both the Northern and Southern Schools of martial arts and was adept at incorporating them into his routines on stage.

In a career spanning close to 50 years, Lam not only continually sought to improve these four aspects of Chinese theatre, but he also made several revolutionary changes to the operatic tradition. For example, in the Chung Sun Sing Opera Troupe’s performances at the Astor Theatre in 1966, he did away with the age-old theatrical convention of performing The Joint Investiture of a Prime Minister by Six Kingdoms to open the show, thus cutting back the duration of the production. He was also the first in the field to use projector-generated surtitles. Such innovative moves were so welcomed by audiences that other local Cantonese opera troupes soon followed suit. What’s more, at the premiere of Bo Yuk and Doi Yuk at the Red Chamber in 1974, he decided to mark a scene change by dimming the lights rather than closing the curtains. He then adopted this innovation for the entire presentation of Lam Chung the Fugitive that was staged later that year. With no curtains drawn, there was no break between the scenes, and the audience could retain a perfect grip of the pulse of the drama as well as the natural emotional response.