A Teochew Opera performance is staged by Qing Nang Yu Lou Chun, a professional troupe in Thailand, in the province of Nakhon Sawan in March. (WANG TENG / XINHUA)

BANGKOK－On a hot and humid night in northern Thailand, a group of performers in colorful costumes, accompanied by crashing gongs and drum beats, draw crowds to a makeshift stage.

It's a performance of the Teochew Opera Luo Shen (Goddess of the Luo River) staged by Qing Nang Yu Lou Chun, a professional troupe which has enjoyed over 80 years of history in Thailand.

Thanks to a vast number of Chinese immigrants who spread the Teochew dialect across Southeast Asia, Teochew Opera used to be a popular form of entertainment in Thailand.

Xu Qing'an, 54, a veteran performer, has seen the troupe's peak. "When I first came to Thailand in the '90s, the troupe had over 100 actors with thousands of visitors every show."

As one of the best-known Teochew Opera troupes in the Southeast Asian country, it was once invited to perform for the Thai royal family.

"But now, things are completely different," Xu says, while looking at the sparse audience.

The audiences of Teochew Opera are mostly older Thai Chinese. As time goes by, the community of both actors and fans dwindles. According to Xu, the troupe has only about 30 actors now, and sometimes the audiences have fewer members than the number of actors onstage.

Dressed in a red cheongsam, Yierkun stands out in the audience of barely 20 people. Influenced by her father who moved from southern China decades ago, the 75-year-old Thai has been exposed to Teochew Opera from an early age.

Unlike her, 9-year-old visitor Suphakorn Nirungrang doesn't understand the Chinese Teochew dialect, but is fascinated by the artists' glittering headgear and elaborate costumes. "They are beautiful on the stage, like angels," he says.

An actor of the troupe with and without makeup. (WANG TENG / XINHUA)

Behind the scenes, actors huddle in a small, crowded backstage filled with their costumes and props, and spend nearly two hours applying layers of makeup before the show. Nearby, tents are set up as their temporary accommodation during the performance. Not far from the stage, a six-wheeled truck is loaded with all the belongings of the troupe.

However, times are harder than usual for the group, which is currently facing the challenges posed by the ongoing pandemic.

"The average number of performances was 300 per year before the pandemic, but now it is less than 100," says Wu Guide, vice-chairman of the Thai Teochew Opera Association and head of Qing Nang Yu Lou Chun.

The loss of actors is also putting the preservation of Teochew Opera in Thailand at risk. At 66, Suluan Chen is in her final year onstage. She is the oldest in the troupe, and was sent to be a performer by her parents at the age of 8. The troupe paid her parents and she was indentured for eight years. Chen still wears a necklace with photos of her parents. Even though they sold their daughter, she doesn't hold a grudge against them because they gave her a career she loves.

Zhuang Meilong, 81, the founder of the Thai-Chinese Dramatic Arts Institute, is struggling to stop the curtain from coming down forever on Teochew Opera in Thailand.

"We are trying to translate operas into Thai to make them easier for the local audience, and also plan to establish an opera school in Bangkok," Zhuang says.

Around midnight, when the lights go out on the stage, Xu takes off his costume and crawls into a tiny tent. In a couple of days, the company will be back on the road and the opera will roll into another village, and the curtain will rise again.