Cambodian Rock Band Review5 min read

Cambodian Rock Band is featured March 6–April 6, 2025 at the Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage.

Cambodian Rock Band

History and What Humans Do to Each Other 

By Cynda Yeasting

For 2 hours and 45 minutes, I was not an audience member sitting in a theatre on a rainy Saturday afternoon in Vancouver, Canada. Still, I was a Cambodian, experiencing life under the rule of the Khmer Rouge.

Their leader, Pol Pot, led the Khmer Rouge.  He chose the name, an abbreviation for “Political Potential”.  He led the party that caused the genocide of between 1 to 2 million Cambodians Tuol Sleng | Photos from Pol Pot’s Secret Prison | History.

Since I heard about the play Cambodian Rock Band, I patiently waited for it to go to Vancouver.  And finally, it did, to the Arts Club, Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage.  I have attended live theatre for over 40 years, and this play’s subject was extra special to me.  You see, back in 2013, I travelled to Cambodia for 3 weeks with seven other volunteers.  We slept in sleeping bags on a cement floor in an unfinished school, lived amongst the locals, learned about farming along with planting rice, and met families with access to clean water due to the installation of wells, landmines and genocide survivors.  We travelled there with HOPE International Development Agency, a local charity based out of New Westminster. It was a life-changing experience, and I wrote a blog about our time there – To Cambodia with HOPE.

Kimberly-Ann Truong puts her powerful vocals on full display commanding the stage as Sothea.

Playwright Lauren Yee did not disappoint, and if anything, she exceeded all expectations as she told the story of the Cambodian genocide from the point of view of a survivor and the survivor’s daughter.  She has written a story you should and could never forget.  It is the history of what humans did to their fellow humans.  The Cambodian people’s suffering and the grief of their country’s immense loss.  The genocide of the educated, teachers, doctors, police, military and those with religious beliefs.

Being Chinese, it is always special for me to see a production with an all-Asian cast. Kimberly-Ann Troung and Raugi Yu gave stellar performances.  Kimberly-Ann played his daughter, Neary, and Raugi played her father, Chum.  Kimberly-Ann is a talented musician and actress.  She belted out the songs and gave us a real taste of the music of the times.  Raugi was spectacular.  He skillfully conveyed a variety of conflicting emotions.  As a parent, I understood his need to protect his daughter.  To keep her safe and not let her know of the atrocities he had lived through.  When speaking to his daughter, he often jokes and makes light of things.  He had a hard time being serious, as it meant darkness.

As is often typical in Asian families, you bury the past, the hurt and the pain.  You do it as these are stories you don’t want to tell your children.  You want to protect them from suffering, and perhaps you want to protect yourself and forget.  Forget what you had to go through to get to where you are now.  There are many aspects of an Asian parent’s life that they never tell their children. Telling them would lead to questions and reveal the depth of the parent’s struggles. Sometimes, children never find out about their parents’ lives before they were born, or they find out upon their death by discovering documents and photographs from a life lived long ago.

Jay Leonard Juatco had several roles and showed his skill in playing a chill young man just enjoying life, to that of a prison guard, who had the unenviable job of ending lives.

Nicco Lorenzo Garcia, who played Duch, was the narrator and kept the audience engaged and wanting more. His delivery and dance moves entertained us, and we never knew where he would turn up, on or off the stage.

The rest of the actors, Kayla Sakura Charchuk and Jun Kung, gave supporting performances and perfectly rounded out the cast.

Throughout the play we were treated to Cambodian Rock and Roll, songs by the band, Dengue Fever.  The music added another layer to the play as it gave you a taste of the mood at the time.  The music was rock and roll through and through, it was just sung in the Khmer language.  Stephanie Kong’s costume design was a clever mix of western rock and roll styles with traditional Cambodian fabrics.

Photo Courtesy of denguefevermusic.com

Music is a huge part of life, and it changed greatly in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, largely influenced by world events. Music went from carefree and lighthearted to serious as wars erupted in Cambodia, Vietnam, and elsewhere in the world.

Cambodian Rock Band was brought to life by Director Jivesh Parasram.  I was so immersed in the play that I was transported back to Cambodia. When the play ended in a roar of applause and standing ovations, I was emotionally and physically exhausted.  One of the other volunteers was sitting next to me on that trip to Cambodia.  We had been to the Killing Fields, stood inside s21 and saw over a hundred photographs of those who died.  We had met survivors and listened to their stories.  We felt it all then and again now.

Cambodian Rock Band is a play to see and never forget. It is at The Arts Club, Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage, from now until April 6, 2025.

Cynda Yeasting is a second-generation Vancouver-born Chinese Canadian. She is the author of a memoir, For Michael, Love Cynda, a member of the Asian Canadian Writers Workshop, and a volunteer with LiterAsian since 2016. She is a licensed Zumbini instructor, part-time Billing Clerk at a law firm, and former Legal Assistant of 31 years.