LOCO

Adult and teen audience, 14 years +

Openning show

The March 7 performance will be followed by a talkback with the artists.

Inspired by Nikolaï Gogol’s Diary of a Madman (1834), LOCO is an absurdist, surrealist tale about the uncertain boundary between madness and sanity. The hero of this short story, Poprishchin, is a low-level civil servant whose daily life fluctuates between the routine of his miserable job and the little pleasures of a lonely man. The discovery of an extraordinary power gives him hope of changing his destiny: to conquer an unattainable woman and achieve an honourable place in society. But this “power” is also the first step towards madness.

Through the story of this little clerk, we question our own solitudes, desires, frustrations, and troubles in the face of what is established and reasonable. LOCO gives us direct, intimate access to the absurdity with which we are regularly confronted in our lives. It is not a eulogy to madness as pathology, but a need to “shuffle the deck,” to leave the usual logic behind in order to dream of something else. To achieve this, two puppeteers masterfully interpret and manipulate Poprishchin, in a surrealist ballet that leaves the audience speechless.

• Drac d’or Julieta Augusti for Best Show, 34^th Fira de Titelles de Lleida, Spain 2023
• Finalist, Prix Maeterlinck de la Critique for Artistic and Technical Direction, Belgium, 2022
• Círculo de Críticos de Arte de Chile for Best Set Design, Chile 2022

Video

Photos

Company

Chilean actor and director Tita Iacobelli met Belgian-Russian puppeteer Natacha Belova in Santiago, Chile, in 2012, during the La Rebelión de los Muñecos Festival. In 2015, also in Santiago, they created an experimental theatre lab for contemporary puppet theatre. At the end of this two-month experience, they decided to create their first show together, Tchaïka (Chile, 2018), which won numerous prizes in America and Europe. LOCO (Belgium, 2018) is the Belova-Iacobelli company’s second creation.

Credits

Stage direction: Tita Iacobelli and Natacha Belova

Story: Loosely inspired by The Diary of a Madman (1834) by Nikolai Gogol

Set design: Natacha Belova and Camille Burckel de Tell

Puppets: Natacha Belova and Loïc Nebreda

Music: Simón González

Lighting: Christian Halkin    

Performers: Tita Iacobelli and Marta Pereira

Choreography and outside eye: Nicole Mossoux

Costumes: Jackye Fauconnier

Production: Javier Chávez

Artistic production: Daniel Córdova

Compagnie Belova-Iacobelli wishes to thank Sophie Warnant for her artistic contribution.

The show you had in mind is sold out? Try your luck at the door! Arrive early. If reserved tickets are cancelled at the last minute, we will gladly to put them up for sale. Credit card and Interac transfers only. No cash payments.