I just returned from seeing a performance at the Sovanna Phum Arts Association (www.shadow-puppets.org) -- as you can guess from the URL, they mainly do shadow puppets, employing various arts students and graduates. I think it's either entirely or almost entirely a male troupe, though that might have just been this performance.
Their theater is in the south of Phnom Penh, somewhere you would not expect to find a theater. It's on the side of the road essentially, a slanted tin roof to cover it and maybe five lights. The stage itself is wood, with a white screen for the puppets. Backstage is hidden by black sheets, and the audience sits on wooden benches, each progressively taller than the one in front of it.
The audience was mainly expat -- I suppose it's advertised by tourist agencies as an authentic experience with the Cambodian culture, as there are very few performances to choose from. There was a live orchestra, and we were welcomed by the director, a man with a kind face and broken English, but a wide smile.
The performance was a mix of shadow puppets and classical dance, telling a story from the Ramayana involving a lot of fighting and a demon masquerading as a Prince's wife. All sorts of good stuff, in other words. They gave us a program explaining the story, though I finally noticed that if you pay attention, you can follow the story, even with the puppets.
The puppets themselves are made of some unidentifiable pliable substance, maybe paper, and intricately cut to represent different scenes. The dancers use them both behind and in front of the screen, their own movements often mirroring the sentiment of their puppets'. The pictures do tell the story, though occasionally -- something I found somewhat strange at first -- the orchestra stops and one of the band members speak/chants the words of one of the characters -- more like theatre.
I have seen enough of the classical dance to start to recognize the characters, and am building a sort of base of knowledge to understand what's going on. In fact, even though most people say it's just slow and boring, I'm finding this to be patently untrue. There is emotion, there are dynamics -- you just have to know how to watch.
As the performance began, the lights went out. There were five shadow puppets, without people, resting in front of the screen, and one by one the performers came out to kneel in front of them and bow. Paying respect to the stories they represent and the art form, I would guess. On the center three, incense sticks were stuck into the puppets and lit. A solemn ceremony, and after talking to Sophiline I understood its importance.
Not so, apparently, everyone around me.
As soon as the lights dimmed and the ceremony began, the tourists began snapping nonstop flash photos.
Now. In any kind of performance, you don't take flash photography. It is common courtesy and common decency, I don't care what kind of show it is. But then to do so during a very obviously sacred ceremony? Sacred dance depicting a sacred text? It's not just flat out disrespectful, but disgusting.
Not only that, but they didn't stop. Each time a new character appeared onstage, out came the cameras, and the flashes. Who cares if you actually see the performance, right? You gotta get the shot of that weird monkey creature. Besides, you don't know what's going on anyway, so may as well just photograph. Say you went to see real Cambodian dancing.
You might have guessed by now that I was livid. I was trying to block out the flashes and focus on the performance, but couldn't help seething. Who the hell do these people think they are, to storm into this country and this performance and take flash photography during a shadow puppet show, without any trace of shame? Oh look, we also went to see the local dance, isn't it amazing, here's a picture....
I'm sorry. That's not how it works.
Perhaps I'm overreacting, but the whole sorry business reeked of patronizing and arrogance. They wouldn't dare take flash photos in a theatre back home, but who cares here, right? It's just a dump of a theater, a roadside sideshow?
No, my friends, you hopelessly clueless and hopelessly arrogant people. No, this is art, art that has existed for thousands of years. It is a story that's been told a thousand times, and danced a thousand times, and when the performers put their hands together and bowed to the floor at the beginning, chanting and lighting incense, they were acknowledging a history and a sacred tradition that is intricately and inextricably tied to their culture.
But you missed that. You were too busy taking a picture.
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