According to rehearsal director Ma Pao-shan: "Things like the scout who comes on stage in the opening scene, tumbling and crawling and panting for breath, or at the end of the play when Wu Hsing-kuo grabs the terrified soldier and questions him, maybe actors in the contemporary theater can take these things in their stride, but for Peking opera this is all strictly 'off limits.'"
文戲排練指導馬寶山說：「你看開場那探子，一上來就連滾帶爬，大口喘氣，或是戲末士兵被吳興國一把抓住質問，驚恐過度、直打哆嗦的表演，現代劇場的演員可能駕輕就熟，但在國劇卻統統是『出格』哪。」