The floodlights click on and light up the stage. A man is shouting names and handing out tickets to boys and girls, who run to collect them. The actor represents fate and these tickets are the children's futures. Some are given parents who work hard and love and support them, others receive a harsher fate, parents who neglect and beat them.
The performance has been organised by M'Lop Tapang and the actors are all former street children and staff. Tonight it is held in M'Lop Tapang's own theatre but it will be staged in slums and beaches across the town. It is part of an effort to educate parents and the wider community about the need to protect vulnerable young people and to consider the forces that have driven them to live and work on the streets.
The show also features traditional Cambodian dancing, acrobatics and a pair of Charlie Chaplinesque clowns. It receives thunderous applause and the parents in the audience are lavish in their praise.
Maggie Eno hopes that this play and other arts shows will encourage both tourists and Cambodians "to think about the stories behind the children when they see them working and begging."
No comments:
Post a Comment