Having recently seen the laborious manufacture of rice noodles in Battambang, I decided to reprise my attempt at veggie num banh chok. Out came the pestle and mortar, with which I pounded the paste of lemongrass, lime leaves, garlic, and turmeric root. The preparation was therapy and the result a comforting bowl of noodles in a yellowy coconut soup with a fresh topping of grated papaya.
A recuperative day was called for, so K and I took a break from doing, in favour of being.
As the shadows grew long, we hatched a plan to blow off the cobwebs and revisit the Phare circus that we had so enjoyed last week. Being narrative-driven, we could experience a new performance this week.
Scraping together our impoverished ingredients, I improvised a spinach, pumpkin and tofu curry in a peanut/coconut sauce with half a boiled egg for dinner. The chilli spice hit the spot and gave us the energy we needed to leave the apartment.
This evening's performance was called Sokha, the name of a girl who lived through the Khmer Rouge regime. Although a fictional character, the basis of the story is drawn from the life of one of the founders of Phare Ponleu Selpak.
Owing to the subject matter, I anticipated a more sombre tone in comparison to the joviality and outright clowning in the previous performance (Chills). Indeed, the performers were initially dressed in austere black and white. An old lady, Sokha, entered the stage and, whirling and shedding the signs of age, brought us back to the time of her youth. The atmosphere was joyful and energetic, the classmates turning impressive tricks in their youthful high spirits. However, the tale took a grim turn with the Khmer Rouge's coup and reign of terror.
The show combines acrobatics, dancing, live painting and percussion to portray the horrors perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge torturers, the performers' faces hidden behind frightening masks. Having survived the ordeal, Sokha is plagued by her memories. As she sleeps, her body is wracked by tortuous nightmares and she enters a macabre dance with the spectre of her fears.
Having conquered her own anxieties in a stunning and acrobatic feat, Sokha helps others to come to terms with their past. In one of the most emotionally charged scenes of juggling(!) ever imagined, black juggling balls serve as a metaphor for a young man's deep-seated trauma caused by the concentration camps. It was a brave choreographer that pitched this particular scene, but it, as the whole, is effective and moving. Despite its weight, the story manages to be hopeful and uplifting, and was a real tonic.
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