At that time local troupes were competing for audiences with troupes from Taiwan. The shows were mainly staged at theaters and other entertainment venues, which also hosted performances of Peking opera, Cantonese opera, Hainan opera and Malaysian opera, so it was a challenge for the opera troupes to come up with new ideas.
當時本地劇團與台灣劇團互別苗頭，拼戲的場地主要在游藝場、戲院裡，有時一個游藝場內還有平劇、粵劇、瓊劇（海南戲）、馬來戲，因此藝人們無不絞盡腦汁地變換新戲。