The Burnt Theatre, or Les Artistes du Théâtre Brûlé, is a 2005 French-Cambodian docudrama directed and co-written by Rithy Panh.

While much of Cambodia's cultural heritage was eradicated through the deaths of many artists during the Khmer Rouge era, the country's main theatrical structure, Preah Suramarit National Theatre remained standing throughout the Cambodian Civil War, even occasionally being used by the communist regime for official visits and propaganda pageants.

Next door, a casino and resort hotel is being built, the slamming sound of the pile drivers provides a counterpoint to the action in the theatre.

Some of the actors receive a small stipend, around $10 to $15 a month, from the government, and supplement their incomes by appearing in karaoke videos and performing at nightclubs.

"[4] Also interviewed is actress Peng Phan (she appeared in Rithy Panh's One Evening After the War and Rice People), who is racked with Survivor guilt and is overcome by psychosomatic illness.

Rithy Panh had co-written the script for The Burnt Theatre, which he then adapted during the shooting of the film to incorporate actual experiences of the performers, blending fact and fiction in a docudrama style.

[2] "The idea at the heart of this film is to gather a group of actors around a project that exemplifies the reality Cambodian people live in: something inside us – dignity, identity – is rotting to shreds.

"Far more powerful are shots of the cavernous theatre itself, where the air is consistently punctuated with the sounds of jackhammers working on an enormous casino nearby.