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3 unusual facts about The Burnt Theatre


Preah Suramarit National Theatre

Filmmaker Rithy Panh's 2005 docudrama, The Burnt Theatre, is set in the remains of the theatre, and depicts a theatre troupe struggling to practice their art and keep fine arts alive in Cambodia.

The Burnt Theatre

A blend of fact and fiction, based on the actual lives of the actors, the film depicts a troupe of actors and dancers struggling to practise their art in the burned-out shell of Cambodia's former national theatre, the Preah Suramarit National Theatre in Phnom Penh.

While much of Cambodia's cultural heritage was eradicated through the deaths of many artists during the Khmer Rouge era, the country's main theatrical structure, Preah Suramarit National Theatre remained standing throughout the Cambodian Civil War, even occasionally being used by the communist regime for official visits and propaganda pageants.



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Nadezhda Repina

At the same time, architects Andrei Mikhailov and Joseph Bové have built a new theatre on the place of the burnt theatre of Michael Maddox – now this is Bolshoi Theatre; it opened on 18 January 1825.