That’s all the more reason for Tse to bring it back to the stage. She thinks that it’s a historical literary gem that has a lot of room for creativity. Unlike Floral Princess which is based on real history, The Painted Skin’s fictional story allows Tse to expand on the characters’ personalities to the extreme for heightened theatrical drama. “The faithful wife’s boring quality and the vixen’s evil nature will be honed to make it clearer why the general leads a dull life and hence falls for the vixen’s seduction,” she explains.

Tse is breaking a lot of boundaries of traditional Cantonese opera in this production. As well as playing both the faithful wife and the vixen—which she says is a challenge as her own personality is very different from both characters—she has also incorporated contemporary dance alongside singing, performing, reciting and fighting—the four key Cantonese opera elements. “As we can’t present a bloody scene onstage, the vixen’s hand movements will imitate the pulse of the heart that is freshly carved out of a man’s body,” she says.

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Tse, who is inspired by Japanese anime, has also incorporated modern elements in the outfits such as an off-shoulder costume for the vixen. This deliberately breaks away from traditional Cantonese opera robes with long sleeves—a design element that has carried on from the times of Ming and Qing dynasties.

The props and sets of the show will take on a more abstract direction. Instead of showing a concrete hall or bedroom, there will be eight flaps of white canvases that can be adjusted in height and movement to convey the spatial concepts of a roof and a door, which the characters can peek through to denote voyeurism.

With these modern takes, Tse is hoping that a younger audience will attend her show, which can give the traditional art form a thrust into the spotlight. “When I joined the industry in 2012, a lot of people said I’m just fooling around. Cantonese opera wasn’t considered a ‘proper’ profession, my family saw it as a hobby and that I would choose something else as my main job,” she recalls. “But I want to tell people I’m serious about pursuing Cantonese opera as my career.”

Tse has always had a fascination with Cantonese opera for as long as she can remember. She first got exposed to it when her mother learnt this art form for a hobby. “My parents told me that as a child, I would get excited whenever they took me to see a Cantonese opera,” she says. “It’s funny, I’m pretty sure a four-year-old wouldn’t understand the lyrics in ancient literary Chinese, but I was so curious and would always ask my parents what was happening.”

Tse studied Chinese literature at the University of Hong Kong. But even a degree didn’t make it easy for her to find a foothold in the industry as the Cantonese opera is conventionally taught through a sifu-apprentice system which usually admits students with a family background in Cantonese opera.

But since she has graduated, she’s seeing a change in the world of Canto opera, with the traditional arts being promoted by institutions such as the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and Barwo. However, she feels this isn’t enough. So, in 2014, she set up her own troupe with her husband, who is a Canto opera actor too. Tse has taken a modern approach to her business by setting up online talk shows, presenting classic productions in a new way—while retaining the essence of Cantonese opera—and spreading awareness of the arts.

Unlike traditional opera companies which are financially backed by sponsorship, Tse’s troupe relies solely on ticket sales. “Our box office fully reflects if people like our shows and will come back for them,” she says. This means that there can be bad days too, but these don’t deter her from pursuing her dream of putting Canto opera back at the top.

“I feel like I was a Cantonese opera actress is my last life, and I’m continuing that dream in this life,” she says. “I love connecting with the authors and stories from the bygone era for our productions. It’s a tingling, fanciful feeling that I have as an artist.”

From February 15 to 16, 2023. Tuen Mun Town Hall. Find out more at hk.artsfestival.org

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