Final Bow at Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay

Famed Taiwanese Hokkien opera troupe Ming Hwa Yuan Arts & Cultural Group joins forces with acclaimed playwright and director Huang Chih-kai in a cross-disciplinary collaboration that's bound to bring you laughter and tears!

Set against the sweeping cultural shifts of 1960s and ’70s Taiwan, Final Bow captures a turning point in history—when the burgeoning film industry upheaves traditional Taiwanese opera troupes from their grand indoor theatres to open-air stages, forcing them to take their final bows.

Beloved gezaixi (Taiwanese opera) troupe Ming Hwa Yuan Arts & Cultural Group (Ming Hwa Yuan) returns to Esplanade after seven years with Final Bow, a hilarious yet heartfelt homage to the golden years of traditional Taiwanese opera. Adapted from the award-winning short story by Hung Hsing Fu, this critically acclaimed production was first staged in 2016 and now embarks on its next tour in celebration of Ming Hwa Yuan’s 96th anniversary.

In collaboration with director Huang Chih-kai, known for The Way of Zhuang Zi and The Long Goodbye, both presented as part of Huayi – Chinese Festival of Arts 2019 and 2020 respectively, the production blends modern stage play with traditional theatre performance.

Huang reimagines a once-tragic tale through comedic elements, cleverly shifting between the onstage performance and backstage lives of the fictional Yushan Opera Troupe. This playful yet poignant play-within-a-play features a progressively absurd retelling of the classic love opera of Chen Shimei and Qin Xianglian, unfolding alongside the troupe’s struggles to adapt to the decline of gezaixi.

Don’t miss this masterful blend of humour and heart—as reality and performance collide in a tribute to the resilience of Taiwanese opera predecessors, and relish in a tapestry of emotions woven over a century of gezaixi.