by Bogdan Georgescu
Cast: Emilian Crețu, Veaceslav Sambriș, Ina Surdu, Doriana Talmazan and Irina Vacarciuc. Producers: Nicoleta Esinencu and Nora Dorogan. The performance premiered on June 20 2011, at Teatrul Spălătorie, Kishinev, Moldova.
ROGVAIV (Roy G. Biv in English) is a document-performance about openly-manifested intolerance, devoid of any responsibility, control or sense of shame, expressed by opinion leaders and public personalities from The Republic of Moldova in 2011. […]
The topics brought forward by the actor-performers during the documenting process made up a complex image of the social issues confronting Moldova in 2011. Doriana Talmazan suggested exploring the relation between state and church (in the context of Moldova being a secular state), sexual education in school and inside the family, the unification with Romania, homophobia and the antidiscrimination law, freedom of speech within the theater. Irina Vacarciuc suggested researching the media as a source of information or manipulation, sexual education in schools, discrimination based on sexual orientation, the family as a pillar of society and domestic violence, and Moldovan identity. Emilian Cretu’s proposals contain religion, sexual education, the antidiscrimination law and the possibility of Russian as a second official language. Ina Surdu suggested domestic violence – a topic explored by the actress in other projects – sexual harassment in school and in the workplace, violence in the education system and corruption in higher education.
The topic which was common to all five actors was the antidiscrimination law, which was rejected from promulgation by the Parliament because it contained the concept of sexual orientation in the list of discriminated categories. […]
The seven scenes reconstructed in ROGVAIV were: Red – the press conference of the EU Ambassador to Moldova, wherein he condemned the setbacks in the EU integration agreement; Orange – a discriminatory blog post by a Moldovan student at the Sorbonne which mentioned 27 reasons why he loved Moldova, including its intolerance towards sexual minorities; Yellow – a connecting monologue, constructed as a testimony about a real situation – a young man of 27 who killed himself in December 2010 because he was being blackmailed by 2 police officers who threatened to reveal his sexual orientation to his parents and work colleagues; Green: an episode of the Sare si Piper (Salt and Pepper) talk-show where the guest, Jon Onoje, an immigrant from Sierra Leone who had just become a Moldovan citizen, is ridiculed by the talk-show hosts; Blue – a socially-oriented show where 2 women from the outskirts of Kishinev protest against the building of a center for children with disabilities on their street. Indigo – the political talk-show In Profunzime (In Depth), where three of Moldova’s political leaders burst into laughter whenever coming across the words “homosexual” or “sexual orientation” when discussing the antidiscrimination law, after which the talk-show is interrupted; Violet – a press conference by Gender.Doc (NGO which aims to promote and support sexual minorities in Moldova) which revealed the situation which led to the 27 year-old’s suicide and presented other abuses by state employees, aiming to encourage the victims and their family to press charges and put pressure on the authorities without any fear or shame of exposure. […]