LOCO
Belova & Iacobelli Company | Belgium

A theatre project ‘Loco’ is inspired by a short story ‘Diary of a Madman’ by a Russian writer Nikolai Gogol as well as Gogol’s own life and mental illness, and in part by our own experiences.
N. Gogol’s ‘Diary of a Madman’ is an absurd tale about the thin line between reason and insanity. Gogol himself is a controversial figure, being of Ukrainian descent, he rejected everything Ukrainian and stood for Russian culture, lifestyle and imperialist worldview. But as it happens sometimes, his writings surpassed his personality, and have indeed unveiled and deconstructed the mode of thinking and worldview, that is actually a catalyst of the war that part of Europe is suffering now.
The story’s main character is Poprishchin, a civil servant whose life is thrown into turmoil following an encounter with the director’s daughter, Sofi. The love he feels for the inaccessible Sofi sets him on a delirious search for identity. “Maybe I am an earl or a general. Why do I look as if I’m just an insignificant employee? Maybe even I don’t know who I am.” As he puzzles over his status, he is compelled to question and investigate everything – even Sofi’s dog, Meggy. Eventually, madness offers Poprishchin the chance to break free of his miserable life when he proclaims himself Ferdinand VIII, King of Spain. One may call this story prophetic as it follows the very genesis of fascism, authoritarianism – a somewhat banal figure inclined for order and perverse justice, sets to a journey to become someone important, to change the world, and in the end – to break mad.

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