Is there a funny side to being a refugee? Molly Sokhom has been there, done that, and she’s here with her show, “Sokhom syndrome,” to prove that yes, there can be – but there’s dark territory as well, as you might expect.

Sokhom Syndrome draws for its material on the experiences of Sokhom’s family, Cambodian refugees who survive the notorious Pol Pot regime, relocate to California and return to Cambodia years later to meet a long lost son/brother. With Sokhom as our guide, we cover a lot of geographical and cultural ground, encountering on our way racial stereotyping, social engineering Khmer Rouge style, and what it’s like going back to the country and culture you left behind…

This sounds heavy but that’s not the feeling you get from the show. Sokhom has a keen eye and ear for detail, and she’s always inviting us to laugh at the funny angle – 1980s street fashion as interpreted by her parents, for example, or the vogue for pale skin and what you need to go through to acquire or keep it (this is a bit out of my league, but my 16-year-old son assures me that the Gwyneth Paltrow gag is hilarious).

On the same theme, tone – how she handles light and shade in her material – is one of the top strengths of Sokhom’s show. It’s not just that she lets the dark side come through, it’s part of the show’s foundations. But the mood overall is in the direction of not just surviving, but making it. As a balancing act, it’s a tour de force, and a credit to her ability to report back on direct experience without editorialising.

Sokhom has a great stage personality: warm, down-to-earth, energetic, good-natured, always ready to laugh at herself, and with tons of heart. She comments at a couple of points in the show that Cambodians tend to be a bit reticent about the difficult emotional stuff. She seems to have gone past this particular national trait, with a lot of her show being based on sharing with the audience aspects of her own and her family’s home life.

Her material is strong, and her delivery mostly does it justice. There are a few first-night rough edges, and she could have got some lines across with a bit more zing. However, as an experienced comedian, she will already have worked out how to sharpen up her act for future performances. She works hard and well at establishing rapport with her audience, which on the first night is appreciative, in that rather constrained Kiwi way. 

“Sokhom syndrome” is a great title, by the way.

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