A moving show on forced marriage

A scene from this weekend’s performance of Phka Sla at Chaktomuk Theatre. Photo by Nobuyuki Arai

Conveying the complexities – emotional and historical – of forced marriage under the Khmer Rouge through art is no easy task. But the dancers and musicians of the Sophiline Arts Ensemble and Khmer Arts delivered on just that over the weekend to three sold out audiences at Phnom Penh’s Chaktomuk Theatre.

Phka Sla – which means “areca flowers” in Khmer – is a mixture of contemporary and traditional dance, which premiered over the weekend as part of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia’s effort to provide cultural and moral “reparations” to the victims of the Khmer Rouge regime – in this case, the 779 civil parties who testified about forced marriages in the ongoing case 002/02 against former Democratic Kampuchea leaders Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea regarding their participation in the crime against humanity of forced marriage.

The testimonies of civil parties to the court form the basis of the storylines in the show, and the fates of those forced to marry under the regime are seamlessly woven into the choreography.

The performance opens with a traditional marriage, alongside an introduction of the concept of forced marriage as a policy of the Khmer Rouge regime, which encouraged it to boost the population. The practice remains a poorly understood form of the regime’s gender-based violence.

“Why wouldn’t a man want a wife?” the narrator asks. Before they can ponder the question, a flashback to 1978 transports the audience. The all-female dance troupe acts out scenes of forced labour as three menacing cadres watch over them. One by one, dancers are plucked from their work assignments and paired off, all in violent yet graceful movements.

Paired off, and symbolically bound by their kramas, the dancers convey the options faced by those who had to live through forced marriage. Some dance in harmony; others clearly struggle.

Cambodia in brief: January 23, 2017

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