George Town World Heritage Incorporated (GTWHI) and George Town Festival will be hosting the award-winning Taiwanese opera troupe Tang Mei Yun Taiwanese Opera Company this August in conjunction with George Town Heritage Celebrations 2023 and George Town Festival 2023.
The troupe is set to perform the classical comedy “Swan Banquet” on August 26 and 27, 2023 at The Majestic Theatre from 5pm to 7.15pm.
The performance will be led by troupe leader Master Tang Mei Yun, together with more than 40 performers, musicians and crew.
According to Dr. Ang Ming Chee, General Manager of George Town World Heritage Incorporated, this performance had been intended to take place in 2020 but it was rescheduled to 2023 due to the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak.
With the support and unconditioned efforts from numerous parties, this performance is finally taking place in August 2023.
Members of the public are welcome to bring along their family members to come and enjoy the performance, thus cultivating appreciation and transmission efforts on traditional opera performances.
Each performance will host 450 audiences, and admission is granted with the complimentary tickets redeemed from George Town World Heritage Incorporated.
There will be no assigned seats. The performance will be conducted in Taiwanese Hokkien with Mandarin and English subtitles.
Those interested can approach George Town World Heritage Incorporated office, which is located at No. 116 &, 118, Lebuh Acheh on 18 August (Friday) or 19 August (Saturday) 2023 from 11am to 3pm to redeem the complimentary tickets.
Each individual is entitled to 2 tickets per Malaysia Identity Card on a first come first serve basis.
To facilitate those who are residing outside Penang, ticket reservation is possible via phone.
Each individual may reserve one ticket per person. The reserved tickets must be collected at the Majestic Theatre at 3pm on the performance date.
For more information and reservation, please contact Ms Ng Boon Nee (011-16259606) during office hours.
Wheelchair users or individuals with limited mobility or special needs may contact GTWHI in advance for priority arrangements to enter the hall.
“Swan Banquet” is a comedy about Governor Wei De An who was supposed to report the damage of the Luoyang Insect Plague to the court. However, Emperor Tang Tai Zhong has mistaken the pronunciation of “Moths” for “Swans” and it leads to a series of misunderstandings.
The Emperor ended up instructing the court to organise a swan feast for invited delegates. This instruction is a challenging task for Officer Mei Dao Jiu who served at the Luoyang local authority, as he has to deliver one hundred swans in three days in time for the feast.
To mitigate this, Minister Fang has arranged a trip for Emperor Tang to visit the town in order to understand the moths and not swans phenomena.