The elaborate costumes carelessly thrown aside, the young troupe members playing with their smartphones, the half-eaten noodles abandoned in the corner — all were tokens of disorder that made Li Zhiguo grimace in his blue and gold cap.

“I get angry sometimes watching my students perform, because their heart isn’t in it,” Li said.

“But when they ask me if rehearsing diligently will guarantee them a good living, I have nothing to say.”

When Li joined the Yu County Jin Opera Troupe in northern Hebei province 35 years ago, he and his fellow teenage recruits believed that they had secured stable futures as the public guardians of a traditional art.

But policy reforms in 2005 turned their government-sponsored project into a private venture without a concrete business strategy, gutting the performers’ salaries and threatening the future of an early Qing Dynasty opera form.

Jin opera, which is characterised by upbeat songs and wooden clapper instruments, originated in the northern Shanxi province bordering Yu county.

From the Spring Festival to the end of March, the troupe travels from village to village in Hebei, performing on ramshackle rural stages to mostly elderly crowds.

Despite their new business designation, they still rarely charge for performances — most attendees wouldn’t pay — and rely heavily on support from local governments.

Backstage at one of their last shows of the season, Li sighed as he recounted all the departures in recent years. Many of his students had left the troupe after struggling to support their families.

“If it’s about the art, I’ll tell them to stay,” said Li. “If it’s about survival, I’ll tell them: go.”

– An ‘iron rice bowl’ no more –

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The group of 90 has been active since 1985, drawing its members from auditions held across Yu county. The performers join when they are between 13 and 15 years old; those who stay have known each other their entire adult lives.

Liu Donghai, a former actor who now helps manage the troupe, recalled that being chosen from among more than a thousand kids had felt like winning the lottery.

His parents were thrilled because, being a state institution at the time, the troupe offered him an “iron rice bowl” — the Chinese parlance for a secure job.

Since they were stripped of their public status, however, some performers have started driving pedicabs between shows for supplementary income.

Even the most senior members of the troupe make less than 2,500 yuan ($363) a month, while the average actor makes closer to 1,500 yuan ($217) in a district where the minimum monthly wage is 1,590 yuan ($231).

Over the 23 years that Liu, 36, has been with the group, he has seen his cohort shrink. But a sense of loyalty has kept him from leaving.

“This is my family,” he said. “Our troupe leader is like a father to me. Whatever he says, I’ll do.”

Sometimes that means singing in negative degree Celsius weather, or dancing while snow settles on his elaborate costumes.

But as Geng Liping, a 30-year-old actress, said, “When you’re on stage you never feel cold.”

– ‘Sword dangling over their heads’ –

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Jin opera recounts ancient Shanxi history, with storylines soaked in nostalgia for the province’s imperial past.

Modern audiences have different tastes, said Wang Jia, founder of the China Jin Opera Network.

“Even our notion of beauty has changed, so everything — from the costumes to the dialogue — is being adapted for contemporary viewing,” Wang said.

The greatest problem they face now is attracting young recruits willing to endure the nomadic life of an actor, a life without financial guarantees.

“Most of them don’t have health insurance,” Wang said.

“The question of whether their basic needs will be met is like a sword dangling over their heads.”

At a March performance in Yu county’s Baocao village, there were no chairs in the viewing area, but some attendees had brought their own. Others watched from inside their cars, or found perches along a crumbling brick fence as a harsh wind blew around them.

More people used to come, the performers said, before the county’s coal plants closed and the migrants left.

Now there were about 50 mostly elderly locals, some with babies in their arms. They heard about the show through word of mouth.

One of the few young people, 20-year-old Zhang Zehui, had attended several performances with her grandmother.

“It’s lively and interesting, but I don’t really understand it,” Zhang said.

Garbed in a colourful robe, Li stood backstage, awaiting his cue.

“Has it been worth it?” he asked as he looked out at the crowd. “That’s a big question mark in my heart.”

Whenever I plan my visit to New York – and these days that’s less often than Europe – one of the first websites I check is that of the Public Theatre. With year-round programming that’s diverse in both style and content, this non-profit company has been entertaining and engaging audiences for many decades, although it is often upstaged by the glamour of Broadway.

So I was delighted to discover that the recently concluded 45th Hong King Arts Festival (HKAF) had in its programme a new play trilogy that premiered last year at the Public Theatre. Furthermore, it was possible to watch all three plays making up “The Gabriels: Election Year in the Life of One Family”, in one day – a marathon viewing that had proved successful both in Big Apple and the Perth International Arts Festival. Each play lasted an hour and 45 minutes and there was a decent amount of time for refreshment and dinner breaks in-between, so it didn’t really feel like a boot camp.

“Hungry”, part 1 in the trilogy “The Gabriels: Election Year in the Life of One Family”, is set after Super Tuesday. Photos/Joan Marcus

Tony-Award winning playwright Richard Nelson set the first play “Hungry” on the Friday evening after March’s Super Tuesday, when Hilary Clinton gained a significant lead for the Democrat Party’s nomination and Donald Trump was just emerging. The audience was introduced to the Gabriels, a middle-class white family living in Rhinebeck, a small town in upstate New York. Mary’s husband, well-known writer Thomas, had passed away a few months earlier and she was still mourning. His mother Patricia, who now lives in a care home, was paying a visit after Thomas’s ashes had been released into the Hudson river. Also joining the dinner were Thomas’s brother George and his wife Hannah, Thomas’s sister Joyce as well as his first wife Karin. While they were preparing dinner –the play was staged in real time and the ingredients and cooking were also real so kudos to the set designers –the audience started to learn about their personal problems, which had little to do with politics. George and Hannah, for instance, were trying to find money for their son’s college tuition.

The second play “What Did You Expect?” was set in September before the first debate between Clinton and Trump, and added more personal problems to the mix. Patricia, for example, was suffering financially as a result of re-mortgaging her house and could not afford to pay for her care home. Karin, meanwhile, was trying to identify which of Thomas’s belongings they can sell as memorabilia to help. George, who earned little from giving piano lesson, was disconcerted that they were now planning to sell the piano.

The last play, “Women of a Certain Age”, was set early evening on election day before all the votes had been counted. While there was a sense of worry in the air about the election result and how it might affect them, it was the personal issues that were again at the forefront. Patricia, for example, has had a stroke and would have to sell the house eventually.

“Women of a Certain Age” is set as America awaits the election results. Photos/Joan Marcus

Playwright Nelson staged these three plays by himself and I had difficulty at first in hearing his actors’ voices. The microphones were hanging above the stage but didn’t seem to be on. Later, though, I realised it was probably the director’s intention to make these plays as realistic as possible and thus had asked his actors to use their normal voices, not projected ones. After all, the narrative was about family issues and the audience was peeking into their actions, or lack thereof, and eavesdropping on their conversations. That reminded me of the naturalism approach favoured in the early 20th century, and was thus a refreshing experience, particularly these days when audiences still think that theatre is larger than life, rather than a reflection of it.

“The Gabriels” was a kind reminder that no matter how much we say we care about our country and its government and politics, what matters most to us is our daily life and the troubles at hand, with our families and those around us coming a close second. Thanks to HKAF’s unique vision, we in Asia had a chance to watch this dramatic gem even before the West End.

It should also be noted here that, in another deft curation, HKAF commissioned local playwright Loong Man-hong to create another domestic drama trilogy charting one family’s lives in three key moments: before the change of sovereignty from the UK to China, after the Sars epidemic, and after the Umbrella movement.

SOON TO COME

– The highlights of the 46th HKAF, next February and March, will soon be announced and tickets will be available online by October. Visit http://www.HK.ArtsFestival.org.

American author and former Washington Post journalist John Burgess shares a glimpse of regional history in “Cambodia Reawakening – One Year After the Khmer Rouge”, an exhibition of his photos from 1980 that’s opening in Siem Reap on Wednesday night.

The show is organised in collaboration with Anjali House, a Cambodian educational NGO, and the US Embassy in Phnom Penh.

John Burgess arrived in Phnom Penh in April 1980 with one of the first reporters’ visas issued by the country’s new Vietnam-installed government following the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge regime the year before.

Water was usually not available from taps. These children helped with the very difficult job of collecting it from ponds and rivers. Photo/John Burgess

He spent two weeks exploring the capital and travelled by car around the Tonle Sap with stops in Siem Reap and Battambang.

Burgess says he found a country in some places still struggling with the horrors of the Khmer Rouge’s five-year reign and in others rapidly springing back to life, driven by “the boundless energy and ingenuity of its people”.

His photos from that tour give an instant impression of how everyday life was being reorganised after the Khmer Rouge attempted to forge an agrarian utopia but ended up committing genocide.

Remnants of war, such as this disabled Vietnamese tank, were common sights along the highways. Photo/John Burgess

Today’s younger generation of Cambodians inherited what was reconstructed, Burgess says, but questions remain. What do they feel about the past? Do they think it represents part of their identity? Do they want to nurture a general amnesia or are they eager to learn about it and express themselves?

“I made these photos in 1980 to help people in the United States understand Cambodia’s reawakening from the Khmer Rouge horrors,” he says.

“It’s a real thrill for me that today the images can help younger Cambodians appreciate the events their parents and grandparents endured and grapple with their own feelings about a history that’s increasingly distant in time but never far from the heart.”

The young people ages 14 to 19 in the care of Anjali House represent a generation that didn’t witness the atrocities of 1975-79. But they have studied the photos in the exhibition and expressed their feelings in poems, short stories and essays. These have been printed in English and mounted next to the photos that inspired them.

The Phnom PenhBattambang train was running, with every square centimeter filled. Photo/John Burgess

“We support underprivileged children and young adults in Siem Reap,” explains Anjali House director Simon Ke. “Our educational programmes are based on acquiring knowledge and also – perhaps more importantly – on developing independence and critical thinking.

“John Burgess’ photographic record of his visit a few months after the end of Khmer Rouge rule gave a wonderful opportunity for our young adults to link their country’s past to its present and future, link the idea of reconstruction to stability, and hope to ambition.”

The exhibition “Cambodia Reawakening” continues through May 17 at the Footprint Caf้ in Siem Reap. Admission is free.

Find out more at http://www.John-Burgess.net and http://www.Anjali-House.com.

Remembering His Majesty

A sculpture of the late King Bhumibol by Thaweechai Jaowattana, former photo editor of The Nation, is among the highlights of the “The King’s Inspiration” exhibition opening tomorrow at Rachadamnoen Contemporary Art Centre on Rajdamnoen Klang Avenue near the Democracy Monument.

The show features the late King in paintings, sculpture and photography along with the Monarch’s sufficiency economy projects. The other artists include Krikbura Yomanak, Jitsing Somboon, Jarut Wongkumjantra, Dinhin Rakpong-Asoke, Rearngsak Boonyavanishkul, Sakwut Wisesmanee and Hongjorn Seneh-ngamcharoen.

The show runs through May 28. It’s open Tuesday to Sunday from 10am to 7pm. Find at more at Facebook/page: rcac84

Changing direction

Buoyed by the success of his debut exhibition “Melo House”, which marked the opening of Bangkok City City Gallery in 2015, Thailand’s popular manga artist Wisut Ponnimit is back at the gallery with his new show “LR’.

Opening on May 6, “LR” features his newest short animations and original animation drawings. Varying from one short cartoon to the next, the show offers – via the loveable animated characters the artist has created over the past 20 years – a sequence of “left-or-right” consequences for viewers to examine. Wisut, a self-taught animator, director and music composer has, since 2003, produced his original animations, and created music and animated work projections. Since 2009 he has been producing monthly online animations, each entitled Short Short Story by Wisut Ponnimit, for audio-technica Japan.

The runs through June 25. The gallery is located in Sathorn Soi 1, a short walk from MRT Lumpini station. It’s open from Wednesday to Sunday, 1pm to 7pm.

Welcome to my world

Australian photographer Nick Prideaux reflects on the minutiae of day-to-day life in his first solo exhibition “Selected Ambience (2013-2016)” showing at Project 189 art space in Soi Nana off Maitreechit Road in Yaowarat until May 14.

Taken over the last three years on three continents, this body of work is a gentle reflection through colour and light, a delicate play on the ordinary that offers a personal insight into the photographer’s world.

For more, visit http://www.Project189Bkk.org and http://www.NickPrideaux.com

Drenched in capitalism

Eight emerging artists from China explore the impact of rapid change as capitalism permeates he cosmopolitan lifestyle in the exhibition “World History” opening on Thursday at Tang Contemporary Art on Rajdamri Road.

Curated by Sun Dongdong, the show features works in various mediums including oil paintings, photography, installation and video art. While Guo Hongwei and Wen Yipei reflect on nature, Jiang Pengyi and Shen Han look at the body. Guan Jun and Xu Qu portray the issue of identity and Hu Weiyi and Wang Mai convey the issue of image.

The curator and some of the artists will be on hand for the opening reception on Thursday from 6 to 8pm.

The gallery is on third floor of The Golden Place Plaza and open Tuesday to Saturday from 11am to 7pm. Find out more at Facebook/TangContemporaryArt.