繁體中文
薛覺先（1904–1956），原名薛作梅，學名薛鑾梅，字平愷，廣東順德人，出身粵劇世家，在十兄弟中排行第五，二姊薛覺芳、三姊薛覺非及九弟薛覺明亦是粵劇演員。他13歲入讀香港聖保羅書院，15歲輟學，17歲到皮革鋪當學徒；18歲拜姐夫新少華為師，取藝名薛覺先，初演丑生。1923年他入人壽年班，因天資聰穎，20歲已任正印，與千里駒同台。1925年，他在上海成立非非影片公司拍攝默片《浪蝶》，結識片中女主角唐雪卿（唐滌生的堂姐），其後結為夫婦；在上海期間，崑劇與京劇對他啟發甚大，他決心吸收京劇的場面與體制，改革粵劇的音樂與鑼鼓。1927年他回港加入天外天、新景象、大江東等戲班，又參照梅蘭芳改良化妝；1929年自組覺先聲劇團，旗下走出新馬師曾、陳錦棠、麥炳榮、林家聲等名伶。1933年9月27日，他自編自演的粵語片《白金龍》在香港公映，其後在滬、穗亦甚賣座。同年10月25日，港府批准男女同台演出，覺先聲成為首個有女性參演的劇團，太太唐雪卿是首位與男伶同台的女伶，他與馬師曾各領劇團競爭，開創「薛馬爭雄」的年代。他銳意改革粵劇，取消師約制、廢除提綱戲、要求排演忠於劇本，又加進小提琴、色士風、吉他等西洋樂器及京劇鑼鼓，請袁小田教授北派武功，並借鑑京劇與江浙小曲創出字正腔圓的「薛腔」。1954年他移居廣州，出任廣州粵劇工作團藝術委員會主任及中國戲劇家協會廣州分會副主席，後任全國政協委員。1956年10月30日晚，他在廣州人民戲院演出《花染狀元紅》期間腦溢血，翌日逝世，終年52歲。
English
Sit Kok-sin (1904–1956), born Sit Jok-mui and known in school as Sit Luen-mui, was a native of Shunde, Guangdong, and came from a Cantonese opera family; he was the fifth of ten brothers, and two elder sisters and a younger brother were also performers. He entered St. Paul's College in Hong Kong at thirteen, left at fifteen and became an apprentice in a leather shop at seventeen, and at eighteen was taken as a pupil by his brother-in-law Sun Siu-wah, taking the stage name Sit Kok-sin and beginning in comic roles. He joined the Yan Sau Nin troupe in 1923 and, being quick to learn, was a principal by twenty, sharing the stage with Chin Lei-ku. In 1925 he formed the Fei Fei Film Company in Shanghai to shoot the silent film Butterfly of the Waves, meeting its leading lady Tong Suet-hing (a cousin of Tong Tik-sang), whom he later married; in Shanghai, Kunqu and Peking opera inspired him greatly, and he resolved to absorb Peking-opera staging and organisation and to reform Cantonese opera's music and percussion. Returning to Hong Kong in 1927 he joined several troupes, improved his make-up after the model of Mei Lanfang, and in 1929 formed his own troupe, the Kok Sin Sing, which produced such stars as Sun Ma Sze-tsang, Chan Kam-tong, Mak Bing-wing and Lam Ka-sing. On 27 September 1933 his self-written, self-starring Cantonese film The Platinum Dragon opened in Hong Kong and then sold well in Shanghai and Guangzhou. On 25 October 1933 the government allowed men and women to perform together, and the Kok Sin Sing became the first troupe with a female performer, his wife Tong Suet-hing the first woman to share the stage with male actors; his rivalry with Ma Sze-tsang opened the era known as the Sit-Ma contest. He reformed Cantonese opera by abolishing the apprenticeship contract, banning improvisation, insisting on rehearsal to a fixed script, adding Western instruments such as the violin and saxophone alongside Peking-opera gongs and drums, having Yuen Siu-tin teach northern-style combat, and borrowing from Peking opera and Jiangnan tunes to create the clear, expressive 'Sit style'. In 1954 he settled in Guangzhou, heading the art committee of the Guangzhou Cantonese Opera Company and later serving as a member of the national political consultative conference. On the night of 30 October 1956 he suffered a cerebral haemorrhage during a performance of Flower-Dyed Top Scholar Red in Guangzhou and died the next day, aged 52.
