THE GOLDEN (r)AGE FESTIVAL
10 of the 13 posters for the performances of the festival
Cambodia is home to many fascinating festivals, from film to circus, and we’ll be exploring some of them in our upcoming articles. But for live art, one festival is beginning to stand out: THE GOLDEN (r)AGE Performing Art Festival.
Launched in 2025 by The Last Stage and The Acting Art Academy, the festival began as a bold experiment. Last year was its starting point; this year marks “Year 1”. And already, it has grown impressively: more artists, more partners, more audiences, more venues, and a stronger sense that something important is taking shape.
This year, fromJune 4 to June 14, 2026, THE GOLDEN (r)AGE brings together 13 performances across Phnom Penh, spread across several cultural venues in the city including THE LAST STAGE Riverside. The programme is electric and diverse, moving between dance, dance-theatre, theatre, cinema-theatre, poetry, circus, and classical Khmer ballet. Some works are original creations, while others are inspired by contemporary and classical pieces from Cambodia and around the world. Most performances are in Khmer, with subtitles in English and French, making the festival accessible to local and international audiences alike.
The name says a lot: THE GOLDEN (r)AGE. It carries both light and fire. The “golden” suggests beauty, memory, and artistic value; the “rage” speaks to urgency, resistance, and the refusal to accept the ordinary. It is the rage to create when there are too few spaces to create. The rage to experiment when the system offers little room for experimentation. The rage of a young generation of Cambodian artists claiming physical, artistic, and emotional space for themselves.
In a country where young performers often lack dedicated venues, long-term training structures, and platforms for contemporary live art, GOLDEN (r)AGE feels like more than a festival. It feels like a gathering point. A place where artists, interpreters, directors, programmers, and audiences can meet. A place where Cambodian stories, bodies, voices, and imaginations can be seen through an artistic lens.
This year, the festival also welcomes international attention, with programmers and cultural professionals coming from countries such as Singapore, France, and Japan. Their presence signals something important: Cambodian live art is not only growing locally; it is beginning to enter a wider regional and international conversation.
The audience is young, curious, and energetic. The atmosphere is charged. For anyone wanting to understand Cambodia beyond temples, tourism, and history books, THE GOLDEN (r)AGE offers another gateway: Cambodia as a living, moving, thinking artistic force.
It may still be young, but THE GOLDEN (r)AGE is already positioning itself as one of the defining festivals for live art in Cambodia. And if Year 1 is any indication, this is only the beginning.
Photos by Aurel Msy
Photo by Aurel Msy
