After a critically acclaimed season at Melbourne’s Malthouse Theatre, master storyteller Alirio Zavarce’s award winning one-man play, The Book of Loco returns to Adelaide for a limited season at The Space Theatre in August.
Written by and starring renowned Venezuelan-Australian writer, actor and director Zavarce, The Book of Loco is a spellbinding, semi-autobiographical one-hander that proves that sometimes you have to go mad in order to stay sane.
Set against the backdrop of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York, the play chronicles in side-splitting, heartbreaking detail Zavarce’s real life descent into madness; from his troubled migrant past, to the breakdown of a relationship, to the agonising death of a parent.
The Book of Loco premiered to great critical acclaim at the Adelaide Fringe in 2013, winning the Fringe Festival Award for Best Theatre Production, followed by a hugely popular 2014 season at the Malthouse Theatre in Melbourne. While the play wasn’t originally intended for teenage audiences, Zavarce says it contains some important messages for them.
“Most of the teenage audiences who’ll be attending this time around weren’t even born when the September 11 attacks happened in 2001, which is quite extraordinary to think about,” says Zavarce. “But I think it’s through those big events in history we can learn how to cope with our own problems on an individual level, and that’s one of the many themes the play explores.”
Directed by renowned Adelaide theatre producer Sasha Zahra and designed by Jonathon Oxlade, The Book of Loco features video and animations by acclaimed multimedia artist Chris More, sound design by Duncan Campbell, original lighting design by David Gadsen and lighting realisation by Chris Petridis.
Incisive, intelligent, heartbreakingly poignant and darkly funny, The Book of Loco is deeply immersive theatre at its beautiful, uproarious and unsettling best.
“This is the kind of show you will kick yourself for missing. Touching and hard-earned.” – Arts Review
The Book of Loco
The Space Theatre – Adelaide Festival Centre
Season: 14 – 22 August 2015
Bookings: 13 12 46 or online at: www.bass.net.au
For more information, visit: www.windmill.org.au for details.
Image: Alirio Zavarce in The Book of Loco – photo by Sam Oster