ADELAIDE FRINGE 2009
The Mad & Ugly Show
Cocoloco
12 March 2009
The Garden of Unearthly Delights, Bosco Theatre
Best known for their eccentric and sometimes shocking street theatre, London’s Cocoloco warn that The Mad & Ugly Show is not for the faint hearted or children – a sure way to entice an Adelaide Fringe crowd into the theatre.
The ripping opening is on a screen, with a series of women of all shapes and ages (top half only) enduring a wax. By their pained, shocked and horrified reactions, there’s never any doubt about what hair is being removed, and I was expecting a show that explores the absurdity of the “mad” things people do to fix their “ugly” bits.
The first tantalising glimpse of the creators, Helen Statman and Trevor Stuart, is as mirror image Alices – now old, faded, and reciting the naughty nursery rhymes and poems that our grandparents might have avoided at story time. Supported by firm, but gentle audience interaction, the sinister Alices were a taste of Cocoloco’s ability to grab a stereotype and twist it into something far more interesting. Maybe it is about aging and holding onto beauty?
The use of the screen let the company play with ideas that are not an option on the street, such as a close up of a masturbating monkey – complete with the dodgy video commentary of “What does a monkey do with a handful of cum?” Thirteen-year-old boys on their first trip to Bali have more interesting and context-based clips on YouTube. So perhaps The Mad & Ugly Show is just a handful of wank
The theme continued with close ups of vaginas (one with ironic itchy, red lumps of post-wax re-growth) violently masturbating to Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons”, sucking on a giant baby’s dummy or popping out a rubber dildo. Confronting taboos and pushing boundaries is going to grab my attention – but I couldn’t grasp the point of this. It wasn’t erotica, porn or art – and I wouldn’t call it theatre. There were laughs, but there’s a noticeable difference between an audience laugh of release and recognition and a laugh of discomfort.
Stuart and Statman’s sketches included the obligatory pulling a skateboard with cock, and more confronting characters like a pregnant woman’s musing about sucking a baby’s penis. Some of this struck an amazing balance between shock and content – but too much felt like it was there just for a reaction. Shock for the sake of shock – really isn’t shocking. I don’t think people left because they were shocked – they left because they were bored.
The most flabbergasting (and ironically, most interesting) part of The Mad & Ugly Show was the company’s show reel! What first seemed like a collection of wacky email pictures was photos of their street theatre. I’ve since looked at the same pics on their web page. Cocoloco’s street theatre looks incredible. It’s challenging, confronting and immediately funny. But why were these images included into their theatre show? They didn’t support anything on the stage - and they created disappointment because we saw hints of what they do well.
If Cocoloco are out on the streets – I’ll follow them throwing money, but The Mad & Ugly Show… well I guess it lived up to its name.
This review originally appeared on AussieTheatre.com.
