The Preah Suramarit National Theatre or the Bassac Theatre was the former national

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailan ...

in the capital Phnom Penh. Designed by chief national architect

Vann Molyvann Vann Molyvann ( km, វណ្ណ ម៉ូលីវណ្ណ; 23 November 1926 – 28 September 2017) was a Cambodian architect. During the Sangkum Reastr Niyum regime (1955–1970), Prince Norodom Sihanouk enacted a development policy encompass ...

in 1966, it opened in 1968 as the Grand Théâtre Preah Bat Norodom Suramarit (aka Mohorsrop Theatre). The theatre building became a landmark structure in modern Phnom Penh. It was demolished in 2008.

Fire and reconstruction efforts

However, in February 1994, during renovation efforts, there was disastrous fire that gutted the entire auditorium and the venue has remained a burned-out shell ever since. Since the late 1990s, there have been many unsuccessful efforts to seek funds for the restoration of the theatre and to redevelop it as an organisational base and national venue. Whilst a $20,000 project by the late Cambodian architect Brum Dar-ravudh, providing the facilities for several rehearsal spaces the National Theatre's head, Mao Keng, a former dancer, has aimed to build a brand-new, state-of-the-art building, which has been rejected by the Cambodian Council of Ministers. A project for a completely new theatre that including dressing rooms, a cafeteria and a swimming pool was proposed in 1999 but never got the green light.http://www.phnompenhpost.com/TXT/comments/c1325-1.htm Phnompenh Post In the ensuing years, neither the Ministry of Culture nor any of the Cambodian cultural or political establishments were able to raise the finances to restore the theatre and succeed with the proposals resulting in a stalemate. In early 2005 the disposal of the theatre site was given to a local developer and business man, Kith Meng, who later executed its complete destruction. Filmmaker

Rithy Panh Rithy Panh ( km, ប៉ាន់ រិទ្ធី; born April 18, 1964) is a Cambodian documentary film director and screenwriter. The French-schooled director's films focus on the aftermath of the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime in Cambod ...

's 2005 docudrama, ''

The Burnt Theatre ''The Burnt Theatre'', or ''Les Artistes du Théâtre Brûlé'', is a 2005 French- Cambodian docudrama directed and co-written by Rithy Panh. A blend of fact and fiction, based on the actual lives of the actors, the film depicts a troupe of acto ...

'', 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.

References

External links

Phnompenh PostKhmer Architecture Tours
{{Coord missing, Cambodia Theatres in Cambodia Performing arts in Cambodia 1968 establishments in Cambodia 1994 disestablishments in Cambodia Buildings and structures in Phnom Penh Culture in Phnom Penh Buildings and structures destroyed by arson Burned theatres Former theatres