Pinocchio – Opera
‘It’s natural to think that Pinocchio has always existed; it is impossible to imagine the world without him.’ Italo Calvino put it well: we all know that stubborn, deceitful, but endearing puppet. In Joel Pommerat’s hands, Pinocchio becomes a rebellious boy who throws himself into the world in search of happiness, impatient and driven by his own untamable impulses. In his stage adaptation of Carlo Collodi’s original story, Pommerat avoids any moralising tone or simplistic approach. On the contrary, he underlines the modernity and richness of the original text. Following their successful cooperation on Au monde, the composer Philippe Boesmans will once again give Pommerat’s characters a voice. He will pull out all the stops to present the many layers of the Pinocchio story with all its musical aspects. Perhaps we, too, young and old, look forward to this new work just as impatiently as Pinocchio. 5-16 September. La Monnaie. From €10
www.lamonnie.be
Flowertime 2017
This is one of the most popular Belgian events. Over 100,000 flowers, 19 first-class Belgian florists, 13 historic rooms, three flower and vegetable carpets on the Grand Place and some hidden pieces of juicy fruit. These are the main ingredients of the third edition of Flowertime. This year the biennial Brussels celebration of floral art will adorn the Grand Place and Brussels City Hall.
Exceptionally the rooms of Brussels City Hall will be open to the public and will not only be filled with the scent of flowers but also succulent fruit and even vegetables. This is because the theme of this edition of Flowertime, a colourful cocktail that instantly creates a summer atmosphere, is ‘flowers and fruit’.
This year, the theme is a wink to the urban gardening and farming trend that is increasingly emerging in major cities. Urban farms and gardens are expanding to become places for new encounters. Flowertime combines all these elements in a single event. 11 to 15 August.
www.flowertime.be
PHOTO Wim Vanmaele
