Loco is a play based on Diary of a Madman, a short story by Gogol, which the Belova/Iacobelli com- pany brings to the stage within the Biennale Teatro. Gogol, a great writer on human illusions and on the fragile links between man and the real world, is revisited by the puppeteer and director Natasha Belova and the actress Tita Iacobelli in their play Loco, “mad” in Spanish. The puppet as the highest expressionist instrument represents a challenge for Natasha Belova who was born in Russia in 1969 and moved to Belgium in 1995. She began her career as a costume and set designer. She later specialized in the artistic production of puppets and as an actress to give them life. She tries to permeate her creations with the main traits of the character she has to interpret performing at the same time besides her puppets.

Tita Iacobelli is from Chile, and she used to be a strong collaborator of the playwright and director Jaime Lorca. In 2015 she met Natasha Belova and since then they have always been working together. They produced some high impact works such as Chayka, freely adapted from Chekhov’s The Seagull, and Sisypholia, a street performance, which is normally held during peak hours on Saturdays in large malls or shopping streets. It is based on the Greek myth of Sisyphus who was punished by the Gods to push a boulder back to the top of a moun- tain, but it inevitably rolls back down again. A slow and repeated movement in contrast with the frantic pace of customers.