Brussels - The girl from the rainbow

This article is my plea to you to experience as many international and intercultural acts as possible. We live in these melting pots, Luxembourg, Brussels, Dublin and even Bucharest to some extent, that are buzzing with cultural acts organised by small communities, it is almost a shame to stay within your own bubble and not see at least what they have to say.

We are fortunate enough as small communities living away from our mother countries to be left to express our culturality, by practising our language in schools and at work, by teaching others a little of our way of life at the International Bazar, Festival des Migrations and Schueberfouer, by organising cultural acts, such as theatre plays at the Neumunster Abbey, by screening our movies at the Irish and British Film Festival and CinEast and many more.

And compared to six-seven years ago, when I've first arrived in Luxembourg, things are changing, I can see more and more printed and online press in English, I can watch movies in the same language, enjoy plays in English and Romanian, there are exhibitions by international artists and our little Grand Duchy is more and more familiar this way.

Fast forward to last Sunday when together with my friends we decided to elope our weekend life and see The girl from the Rainbow in Brussels. It is a Romanian play, as it is written in Romanian and despite what I wrote two paragraphs up, I kinda think you have to be a Romanian who lived in Romania to get the full grasp of the topic.

The story-line is basic, a poor prostitute forced into this life by circumstances, tells her story about life on the seats 13 and 14 in the last row at Cinema Curcubeu (Rainbow), the only place she can afford to bring her clients.

What impressed me was the way the actress (Ilona Brezoianu) constructed the part, how easily she could cross from one mind state to another taking you, the audience, with her. She laughs, she cries, she sings, she tells the story, she eats a boiled potato, she uses perfume, she keeps you in your chair for almost two hours and she is only 29. So keep an eye peeled for her in the future.

The play is very well written by Lia Bugnar with masterly language punches, which again you have to be Romanian to understand.

I had the chance to meet the duo at the end and they are Romanians I wouldn't mind calling friends.

So if you happen to be in Romania and see the poster, buy a ticket and you will not regret, you might not understand much, but you will not regret. Remember, Fata din Curcubeu!