How Cambodian women are using theatre to speak out against domestic abuse

Lakhon Komnit, which translates to ‘thinking theatre’, works with domestic abuse victims throughout the year. Photograph: Courtesy of Lakhon Komnit

Chenda usually spends her days in her rural village collecting scrap metal and looking after her seven children. But on a recent afternoon, the 42-year-old woman wore a drawn-on moustache and checked men’s shirt as she staggered around a makeshift stage by a busy road, playing a drunk husband shouting at his wife.

“I’ve told you again and again. Don’t follow me and ask me to come back home when I’m drinking,” shouted the actor. “I will kill you.”