From a world where Alice in Wonderland meets The Shining, performance troupe Cocoloco presents stimulating, hilarious and ever so slightly bent theatre. Cocolocos work has been described as the high art of madness to perfection, a Salvador Dali-esque cocktail from David Lynchs notebooks, brave and eye catching and anarchic and quirky peripatetic performance.
Cocoloco believes in a multitude of things theatrical, essentially, that difficult ideas and complex problems can be expressed in accessible ways. Our aim is to provide keys to the doors of perception, to exploit existentialism and expose the life behind the mask flooding the mind with imagery which is rich and resonant.
Cocoloco played at Melbourne Commonwealth Games, the UK Pavilion at Shanghai Expo 2010 and an opening act for the Sydney Festival 2011. We have toured extensively throughout Australia (Melbourne Comedy festival, Sydney Easter Show, WOMADelaide, Adelaide Fringe Festival, Woodford Festival etc). We have been invited to perform in Singapore (Singapore Museum opening), Japan (Shizuoka Fest.) and Auckland (Random Acts at Xmas) and have also played festivals throughout the UK and France, Holland, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Finland, Iceland…
Cocoloco is a performance company set up in 2000 and based in Dalston, London. Cocoloco employs a good mixture of experienced performers, composers, painters, film makers and designers. We sometimes ask the audience to become part of the performance (if we need a big cast) and the work is always engaging, highly disciplined and memorable.
Trevor Stuart studied science at the University of Queensland and then attended the legendary Decroux Mime School in Paris. He has worked in London theatre for over 30 years as actor and director (Lumiere & Son Theatre Company, Pip Simmons Theatre Company, Natural Theatre Company of Bath, Impact, Volcano, Avanti Display); and as an installation and performance artist exhibiting at Queen Elizabeth Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Serpentine Gallery, Canary Wharf and the Design Centre. Nominated for Best Actor (Salvador Dali) in Edinburgh, 2002, and Best Supporting Actor, Robert Helpmann Award (As You Like It, 2012).
Helen Statman studied theatre/film and German at Bristol University. After setting up MTV Europe in Germany and Switzerland she worked extensively in both film (Emir Kusturica’s Underground) and theatre (Helter Skelter, Remould, Natural Theatre, Avanti Display).
Helen and Trevor are a husband and wife team who engage a variety of free-lancers on a project basis. We also work with Avanti Display (Leak, Mr Lucky’s Party, The Spurting Man, Waiting to Happen).
Some highlights:
PORTO CITY OF CULTURE – we created an epic journey through the old town, down to the river and across the ferry. The audience was led through a variety of performances – a mock wedding in a workers club, abseiling down a mountain, a show on the ferry across the river…. Fifty students and professionals played multiple roles through the evenings. The performance lasted 3 hours.
WARWICK CASTLE BREAKFAST SHOW – Medieval Breakfast Show television.
In 2010 we were commissioned by Remarkable productions to direct the Opening of the Kentish Town Baths. We brought in JOCELYN POOK (composer) and choir, AVANTI DISPLAY (water effects) & URSULA MARTINEZ (live artist).
Cocoloco has also worked with a number of visual artists. In 2004 we worked with ELMGREEN & DRAGSET on the TATE WALK (investigating the lower depths of Tate Modern and Bankside power station history ) and again in 2009 as part of the VENICE BIENNALE for the Danish Pavilion in a piece called THE COLLECTORS.
Brisbane Festival 2009 commissioned THE ALICE & ALICE BUS TOUR. Canberra Enlighten Festival commissioned LOST IN THE ZOO in 2013.
Auckland Festival of Random Acts commissioned CHRISTMAS CRACKER 2010.
Melbourne Commonwealth Games commissioned DUEL IN THE SONG, 2006.
Cocoloco has an excellent track record in corporate work. We appear at various private parties and have performed for Metro Newspaper, The Dali Universe, Madame Tussauds and various film festivals (Sheffield Documentary Festival, Adelaide Film Festival – a performance lecture “Celluloid and Tinsel – 101 films to see before you die”)
Cocoloco has also been employed to direct a number of projects. We work annually with Hope St Ltd, Liverpool and have produced/directed:
THE LIVING ROOM 2005 (Unity Theatre)
FOOL SPECTRUM (in conjunction with TATE LIVERPOOL) 2009 – 50 performers working throughout the exhibition titled COLOUR CHART.
UPSIDE DOWN, WRONG WAY ROUND (in conjunction with UNITY THEATRE Liverpool, 2010). We turned Liverpool’s Unity Theatre complex into a film noir set using 40 performers – a mixture of students and professionals.
FEAST – FREE RADICAL FOLLIES – 2011 – A one day street theatre festival with 45 performers.
REFERENCES:
JEREMY SHINE – KENDAL MINTFEST
NEIL BUTLER – UZ EVENTS
PETER WARD – HOPE ST LTD
“All truth is contained in the website!” www.cocoloco.co.uk
